Coming Back
by RadcliffePotter
Summary: I have killed Archer or have I? During a fire fight, Archer is tragically killed. Read and review. Let me know if I should continue! NOT FINISHED. Rated T for blood shed. UPDATED Chapter 15 online!
1. The Fight

**Author's Note: Please let me know if you want me to continue this story! I killed Archer – or did I? - so please no flames! Thanks!**** Okay Sclittle and Begoogled, here you go, an Enterprise fanfic!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

Had Captain Archer known that this would be the day when he would die, he probably would have stayed in bed. In all respects but one, it had been a normal day. Archer had gotten up in time for his shift, showered, had breakfast in the Captain's mess with Trip and T'Pol and had been on the bridge for the rest of the day. The only thing that seemed out of place was that all day Captain Archer had had an unplaceable feeling that something was going to happen. He thought about mentioning it to T'Pol, but he knew she would just arch her eyebrow and tell him that humans had no such thing as a sixth sense and that to feel that was illogical. And today, he just didn't feel like listening to T'Pol telling him for the ten thousandth time that humans were illogical.

So far, it had been a calm day on the bridge. The only excitement he had had was signing some forms detailing some new security procedures that Malcolm and the MACOs wanted to institute on Enterprise. It was Lieutenant Olivia Edwards, the youngest member of the security team, who brought him the reports to sign. Archer couldn't ever recall talking with Olivia before, and he made a mental note to stop and talk to her sometime. Shortly after she left, everything went wrong.

"I'm picking up a ship about 3000 kilometers away, origin unknown," T'Pol said. "Bring it up on the view screen," said Archer, his senses going into red alert. He knew without knowing how he knew that this was what he had had a bad feeling about all day. "Hoshi," he said, "Hail them,"

"Yes, sir," she said and she pushed buttons all over the console, sending out the Enterprise's generic "we mean you no harm we're only explorers" message that seemed to not be believed by many of the races they encountered. Apparently no one "just explored" these days. Oh well, Archer sighed mentally. A few seconds after Hoshi transmitted Enterprises message, they received a message back. A face that looked most closely like a Gila monster appeared on screen. It said, "You will surrender and be boarded or you will be destroyed," Archer tensed in his seat. Didn't anyone ever just talk? "Red alert," he barked, and the ship came to life. The red lights flashed and he could see the visible tensing of the bodies around him – well except for T'Pol, being tense was a human thing, he thought with a stab of annoyance.

The flashing lights cast an eerie, blood red hue over the bridge as Enterprise charged her own weapons and waited for the fight to begin. They had hailed the enemy ship several more times to no avail and now they had to wait for them to make the first move. Personally, Archer hoped they would back down, but knew the chances of them doing so were slim. Malcolm said "I'm picking up an odd energy signature on C Deck… they're beaming in!" He exclaimed. Archer's anger flared. A firefight between two ships was one thing, but now they were dragging this onto his ship, and it was personal. His own people were in danger and he had a duty to protect them all. He punched the comm button on his chair. "Security team to Deck C!" he barked, all business. Malcolm, you're with me. T'Pol, you have the bridge," Ignoring T'Pol's objections, Archer and Malcolm boarded the turbolift and went straight to engineering. Dashing past Trip, Malcolm and Archer both grabbed phasers and jogged to C Deck.

They arrived to find the MACOs already in a heated battle with the lizard men. The lizards seemed to shoot something like a bullet, but it sure packed a wallet. When fired, the gun gave a bright, momentarily blinding flash. The hallway was a cacophony of flashes, bangs, and tension. Bullets were ricocheting off the bulk heads and the lizards were slowly gaining ground. "Fall back and regroup!" Major Hayes yelled. He knew when he was beat and was smart enough not to let his own pride cause him unnecessary lives. The team was carefully backing out, and it appeared that the MACOs hadn't yet had any injuries. They were nothing if not careful. One of the MACOs near the back Archer realized with a thrill was Olivia.

She seemed to be in her element. She was firing with careful aim and was totally absorbed in her task at hand. She backed up slowly and was soon on the other side of the hallway from Archer and Malcolm. Olivia fired at one of the lizard man and let a smile of triumph play on her lips as she knew that she would hit her mark – that is, until it disappeared. One minute it was there, and the next it was not and Archer saw Olivia scrunch her face up in confusion, wearing a look that undoubtedly mirrored the looks on his and Malcolm's faces. Seconds later, Archer heard a strange noise behind him and in an instant, Malcolm was on the floor.

The lizard had transported and reappeared right behind them. A hit to the back of the head and Malcolm was laid flat out on the deck. The lizard towered over Archer hissing menacingly. If Archer knew that he could've been heard if he cried out, he probably would have, but in the chaos nothing could be heard clearly. A hit to the head, and a blinding white pain in his head and Archer was lying beside Malcolm on the floor. Archer heard the lizard's gun discharge and waited to feel the sickening pain, but he didn't. He felt something hit the floor next to him and opened his eyes with a groan and realized it was Olivia. Blood blossomed from her stomach and she was clutching her wound in agony. A shadow fell over him, and Archer knew he was next. Why had they never seen this coming? He wondered silently. The lizard aimed for Archer's head and pulled the trigger.

Once again Archer waited for the pain of a bullet but felt nothing. Something heavy landed on top of him and realized that Olivia had thrown herself in front of the bullet meant for him! Her body was thrust aside as the lizard lifted Archer bodily off the floor. He could see Malcolm was out for the count on the floor and Olivia was now also bleeding heavily from around her hip. The lizard thrust the muzzle of his gun into Archer's chest and fired.

The pain was intense and Archer gasped at the rush of adrenaline. He felt oddly unattached from himself as he fell to the floor in a heap. His eyes wide open and his mind oddly clear, Archer watched as Olivia fumbled with her phaser, her face a study in pain, and hit the lizard three times as the lizard hit her once again in the chest. She crawled over to him and pressed her hands over his wound before collapsing on top of him.

The next thing Archer knew, he was in sickbay. He awoke in the surgical suite just as Phlox was beginning to perform surgery on him. "Olivia?" he said huskily. "Captain," Phlox chided with a worried look, "Save your breath. I'm sorry, I did everything I could, but her wounds were just too extensive. She died only a few minutes ago. Now, I'm going to put you to sleep so we can fix you up," Archer felt a surge of pain and his eyes rolled back in his head as his body arched off the biobed. He heard a monitor shriek and he heard Phlox yell, "He's flatlining! Give me the defibrillator!" And then, he knew no more.

An hour later, Phlox emerged out of the surgical suite to see Trip and T'Pol sitting in sickbay. Trip looked up hopefully as T'Pol maintained her usual look of absolute composure. Phlox hung his head and said, "I'm sorry. The captain flatlined several times. The damage to his heart was extensive and after the fifth time flatlining, we couldn't bring him back," Tears filled Trip's eyes as he said, "Are you trying to tell me that Jon's dead? He can't be dead!" Phlox came over and said, "T'Pol, you need to announce to the ship that the Captain has died. You are, of course, in charge of the ship now,"

Now the task lay before T'Pol of telling the ship that her captain had died.

**To B****e Continued!**

**Okay, there's more to this story. If you like it and you want to know what happens to Archer and Olivia, then please review and let me know! I hope you liked it.**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	2. He's Dead

**Author's Note: Okay, here you go Volley, the next chapter. ****And no, I'm pretty sure that the red alert light****s**** are red, but you never know, I could be wrong! ****Thanks for being the first to review. Here, have a cookie. Hands Volley a virtual cookie ****Anyway, here's more. They all think he's dead, but he really isn't – more on that next chapter…Read and review please!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

If Trip thought that crying might somehow bring Archer back, well, he would've cried forever. Despite Phlox's warnings, Trip had felt it necessary to see his friend, one last time. Maybe Phlox wouldn't understand – he knew T'Pol wouldn't – he just needed to say good bye in private. Trip lifted the white sheet from Archer's face and gasped at how pale it was. He knew that it shouldn't surprise him – _after __all, he is__…dead_, Trip thought with resignation. He pulled the sheet down to Archer's shoulders – he didn't think that he could bear to see the small hole in Archer's chest – the one which had taken the life of his best friend in the universe. Trip pulled up a chair and sat with Jon for a while in silent contemplation. "Y'know, Jon," he began quietly so that Phlox wouldn't hear him, his voice little more than a whisper, "We've been through so much together and it doesn't seem right, now that I'm still here and you're not. But I know that things could be real rough for you sometimes. The weight of the world can be pretty heavy, huh," he said with a sad smile. He shifted nervously in his seat. It didn't matter if Jon was dead or not – he had always known that when they eventually had to say goodbye that it would be one of the saddest things he'd ever have to do. _But maybe,_ Trip thought somewhat guiltily, _it's__ easier this way._ Since Jon was dead he wouldn't have to worry about seeing the look of sadness on Jon's face when they parted – no attempts to hide tears. "You sleep well Jon," he murmured as he stood up. He knew that if he didn't leave now, he might break down in sickbay.

As Trip turned to leave, he noticed the other white sheet whose brightness contrasted so starkly with the muted greys and blues of sickbay. Trip felt a twinge of guilt. He really should be more upset about Olivia's death. She was so young and full of potential, like his own sister. But, his heart ached only for Jon. Trip felt a flush of compassion as he walked toward her body. "You tried to save him," he murmured quietly. "Yes. She did," said T'Pol. She seemed to come out of nowhere and Trip jumped at the sound of her voice. "Geez T'Pol," he said, clutching his hands to his chest where he could feel his heart thundering, "Give a guy a little warning next time,"

T'Pol walked over to the body and pulled the sheet down to her shoulders. Trip came over and stared into her face, trying to memorize every detail of Jon's rescuer. "She could be alive right now," he said bitterly, "They both could," he said more loudly as he pounded the biobed to make his point. T'Pol said, "Olivia acted in a logical manner. She sacrificed herself for her captain,"

Trip wheeled around to look at T'Pol. "Shut up, okay!" he yelled, "Just shut up! You and your damn logic! Why does logic have to involve sacrifice? Is her life worth less than Jon's just because she was only a lieutenant and he was a captain?"

"Commander," T'Pol said coldly, "I understand that you are feeling the loss of Captain Archer, but there is no need to yell. I was simply pointing out that given the situation at hand, Olivia chose the course of action that a Vulcan also would have chosen. She was, in all respects of what she did, logical. I am not trying to belittle her, I am only stating facts," Trip, however, was in no mood for lectures. By this point, hearing the commotion, Phlox had arrived and was standing behind T'Pol and Trip, quietly observing. Trip turned to Phlox. "And you, Phlox, can stop studying everyone! Did you ever think that maybe it's annoying to be watched ALL THE TIME!" And with that, Trip stormed from sickbay pushing past Phlox.

Trip pounded angrily straight to his room. He locked his door and threw himself on the bed. Trip stared blankly up at the ceiling, replaying what had just happened. He cringed at his own behavior. He sighed aloud and looked at the clock. He was already done his shift for the day, though it felt like it had just lasted an hour, what with everything that had happened, the time had just slipped by. He heard the ship wide comm crackle to life and he braced himself for what was coming next.

T'Pol's familiarly unflappable monotone began speaking and Trip closed his eyes. "Attention all crew. This is Subcommander T'Pol. I regret to inform you that during the recent fire fight that ensued, Captain Archer was killed. To honor Captain Archer's memory, it seems appropriate that a moment of silence be observed," There was silence for about thirty seconds, and Trip would've sworn that even the engines grew quiet at T'Pol's request. "You will all be notified when the funeral service will be held, should you wish to attend," she said brusquely and the comm crackled off. Trip felt tears sliding down his face. It was real. It had happened. T'Pol had just said so, and he had seen the body himself, yet he still could not believe it had happened. Trip lay on his bed for several minutes, his mind awhirl with thought. A stab of indignation interrupted his thoughts, _T'Pol didn't even mention Olivia. It seems only fair since she died trying to protect him._

The next two days passed in a blur of depression. T'Pol now sat in the Captain's chair and everyone seemed to be in a funk. The mess hall was quiet and the bridge was like a tomb. The crew missed Archer's light hearted banter, something which T'Pol could never even begin to replicate, even if she tried. Archer was a man of action, always pacing the bridge, tapping his fingers on his chair, or jiggling his feet absent mindedly. He was always moving and the bridge – hell, the whole ship, seemed strangely quiet without it.

The senior staff had decided that today was as good a day as any to have the funeral. It would be a double funeral. Both Olivia and Archer would be paid their respects. T'Pol would be giving the eulogy for both of them and Trip couldn't bear the thought. Though she might have a good speech that she thought through many times, it just wouldn't be right. As usual she would sound so unbearably in human and in this case, it would almost seem like a violation of the wave of emotions that was supposed to accompany the eulogy of a friend or a loved one.

The crew was assembled in the cargo bay; those who wouldn't fit were lined up outside in the hallway to see the bodies after the service. T'Pol stood in front of both open coffins and a hush descended upon the hall. "We have gathered here today to remember the lives of two of Starfleet's finest. As you are by now well aware, Lieutenant Olivia Edwards gave her life in an attempt to save Captain Archer. And we are all grateful for her actions. In doing so, she not only attempted to save Captain Archer's life, but also saved Mr. Reed from further harm," At this, Malcolm hung his head in shame. Despite being unconscious at the time, Reed still felt he should have done more to save the Captain and the others. "Captain Archer," T'Pol continued, "was without a doubt the finest Captain a ship such as this has ever had and I am sure he will be missed," T'Pol paused before finishing, but was interrupted by a blinding flash of light. For the next few seconds, no one said anything, because the flash had temporary left everyone blinded and no one could see anything. Once everyone's vision seemed to be clearing, a cry was heard from Malcolm, "The Captain! He's gone!" And sure enough, everyone could see that both bodies were no longer in their caskets.

**To Be Continued!**

**Hey everyone, I hope you liked it. Review and tell me if you think I should continue! Don't worry, Archer's coming back, this isn't really a death fic…Let me know if you want more! Thanks!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	3. Where Am I?

**Author's Note: Okay, Begoogled, Volley, and Firewolfe, here's the next chapter! Just like I promised, Archer is back! Please continue to read and review. I won't continue adding chapters if no one likes it. ****There is a lot of detail here, but for a good reason, which you will find out about in the next chapter… ;) ****Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

Archer was drifting on clouds. His entire body felt weightless and he knew that he must be dreaming. Nonetheless, he didn't want to open his eyes. This sensation of complete contentedness was filling him up and he couldn't remember ever being so happy before in his life. He floated, for a moment, savoring this euphoria, until a startling thought came to mind. "Wait," he said aloud to himself, "Aren't I dead?"

He opened his eyes and found himself in a large canopy bed. He was tucked comfortably under a set of white sheets and a goose down comforter. Sitting up in confusion, Archer looked around the room. There was a mahogany dresser and three of the four walls had bookshelves built into them, which were crammed with books. There were three doors also in the room. One door, which was slightly ajar, lead to what appeared to be a bathroom. The second, Archer assumed was a closet, and the third must, he thought, be a way out. Reluctantly, Archer pulled back the covers and got out of bed. It was only now that he realized that he was wearing a pair of blue silk men's pajamas. The pants swished lightly as he walked and he noticed that the button-up pajama shirt was monogrammed with his initials – JA.

His confusion only deepening, Archer put his feet into the slippers that had been conveniently left on the floor for him, and wandered into the bathroom. It was a dazzling bathroom, full of white marble. In one corner of the room was a whirlpool bath. Next to that was a marble toilet and sink. Hung on the wall near the door was a mirror and Archer paused to look at his own reflection. _Still the same old me,_ he puzzled. How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was being in Enterprise after he had been shot. Phlox had told him that Olivia had died and then – he could remember the indescribable pain in his chest and then an abrupt release of all pain and feelings and he realized with a thrill of horror that he had died.

He was floating above his own body and he had been disgusted by what he had seen. There was blood everywhere. Phlox's face was grim, looks of determination, resignation, and sadness all crossing his face one after the other as he realized that his hard efforts just hadn't been enough. And then – Archer scratched his head quizzically. He couldn't remember a damn thing. As the remembrance of the bullet hole in his chest and his blood came to mind, he ripped off his shirt and examined his chest in the mirror. There was nothing there but smooth, white skin. He gently touched his chest experimentally as though afraid it might be a trick, and then, seeing that it seemed to be okay, he poked his skin where the bullet had ripped through. It felt like normal. Now still more confused, Archer decided to explore this new place. He quickly used the bathroom and set off for one of the two doors. He yanked the first open and discovered a flowery smelling closet full of clothes. He closed the closet and strode to the remaining door. He hesitated with his hand over the knob, debating if he really wanted to know what lay outside his door. He decided he did. Archer opened the door and looked both ways. To the right was an open door which lead to an office area. To the left was a closed door and in front of him was a set of bare pine wood stairs. Archer left his room and his slippered feet made a gentle tapping against the bare tan wood floors.

He walked left and tried the closed door. It wouldn't budge. Stymied, Archer went right into the office. There were several book cases. Two were filled with travel books from all over the world. Archer cocked his head sideways in interest so that he could read the spines. _Bolivia. Italy. Venice. St. Croix. The Virgin Islands. Germany. Japan._ Most of them had apparently seen at least some use because their spines were well worn and their pages dog eared. A glance of the rest of the office yielded a mahogany desk and tall leather chair. The desk had papers and books all over it. After glancing both ways as though afraid someone might be looking, Archer walked over to the desk and peered down at the books and papers on the desk. Clearly, whoever had been here last was planning a trip to Japan. There were Japanese dictionaries, pamphlets about the winter ice festival, and countless leaflets and booklets describing the fun things to do in various Japanese towns. Sitting atop it all was a half finished itinerary. The handwriting was half cursive and half print, scribbled in a hurry. Here and there, some else with nicer writing had put in their own comments about certain location. The things scribbled were things like "Great sushi here" and "Go here for the best view at sunset".

Archer stood up and glanced again around the room. There was an overstuffed flower print armchair and several filing cabinets. Still finding no one, Archer wandered out of the room and down the stairs. The house was deathly silent and silence was unnerving him. After walking down one flight of stairs, Archer found himself in a small sitting room in an alcove off the main hallway. There was a brown grand piano and a blue sofa. Walking still further down the hallway, Archer came to a door. He opened it and found a fresh smelling linen closet filled with multicolored sheets, comforters, and duvets. He closed the door and moved on. At the end of the hallway was another room with an open door and another set of stairs. Archer ignored the stairs for the moment and entered the room. It was another bed room. The bed had Garfield sheets on it, and had clearly just been slept in. A bureau next to the bed bore a pink Hello Kitty stereo and several books. Against the other wall were two more book cases full of books, and on the other wall was another blue sofa. Another door exited the room other than the door he had entered, and Archer wandered in curiously. _Another b__athroom,_ he thought. This bathroom had a large marble sink with lights all around the mirror, a black and white toilet, and a glass doored shower.

Having hit another dead end, Archer wandered back out into the hallway and started down the stairs. The silence was still oppressive. Archer was halfway down the stairs when he heard a dull thud, a loud clang, and a yelp of pain. He froze momentarily, stunned by the noise after all this silence and then raced the rest of the way down the stairs. Flying around the end of the stairs into what appeared to be the kitchen, he saw a large metal pot lying on the floor. Sitting next to it, clutching her head in pain, was Olivia.

**To Be Continued!**

**Okay, sorry if this was too much description. At least you know that both Archer and Olivia are alive now! But for now, I'm going to leave you hanging. I'll tell you where they are and how they got there in the next chapter. Please read and review to let me know whether you think I should continue. Thanks! Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	4. Dad?

**Author's Note: Hey guys, here's chapter 4. I hope you're still enjoying the story. Things get still more mysterious, but at least you find out where Archer and Olivia are…sort of…evil smile Review to tell me if you think I should continue. Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

For a moment, Archer did nothing. He stood staring at Olivia crouched on the floor. In his mind, a fight was going on: _It can't be her. She died. Phlox told me so. I saw her get shot three times. This must be a trick. But what if it's not? I was dead and now I'm here, so can she be alive too?_ Olivia looked up at Captain Archer, completely oblivious to the mental fight he was having with himself. "Sir?" she said, with a look of confusion on her face. "What are you doing here?"

Ignoring the voice screaming in his head that she was a trick or a mirage, Archer took a step closer to her. "I think the real question," he said, "Is where is here?" Lizzie smiled and attempted to stand but nearly collapsed. She would have hit the floor again if Archer hadn't caught her by her arm. He put his arm around her waist and she put her arm around his shoulders. She was limping severely and appeared to be in significant pain. She was sweating and her face was pale. Archer helped her through the kitchenette to the living room and eased her on to a sofa. He sat beside her. "Are you alright?" he asked peering intently at her. She hesitated for a split second and then said, "I'm fine,"

This pause was long enough for Archer to know that she was hiding something. He grabbed both her shoulders, stared at her, and said, "You're lying to me," Olivia looked away. He took her silence to be an acknowledgement. "Someone or something healed me," he said as he unbuttoned the top of his pajamas and showed her the ordinary looking white skin where the bullet had hit. "Didn't whoever or whatever it was heal you too?" She turned slightly to look at him and grimaced before saying, "I think that it must be harder to heal more than one injury," As she unbuttoned the very top button of her pajamas, Archer realized for the first time that she too was wearing a very similar set of pajamas. Her pajamas were green silk and also monogrammed with her initials – OE. She blushed slightly as she pulled the left side of her pajamas down just enough so that Archer could see her slightly tan skin. She pointed to right above her heart. "I felt it hit right here," Nothing but smooth skin was visible. "But," she said, "they get worse," It took Archer a moment to remember that she had, in fact, been shot three times. He assumed that she meant that the other two wounds hadn't healed as well. Olivia pulled up the bottom of her pajama top so that Archer could see her stomach. The bullet hole was gone, but there was some slight black and blue bruising.

Archer felt himself tense as he realized that the third bullet hit must be the worst of all. "And then," she said, "there's this one," She slowly and gingerly pulled down the right side of her pajama bottoms so that her right hip was exposed. Archer gasped aloud. Though the actual hole was gone, it was far from healed. Her hip was swollen and an angry black bruise covered her entire hip bone. Archer, without thinking, reached out a hand and touched the bruise. Olivia gave a hiss of pain and pulled away from his touch. "I'm sorry," Archer said, "I don't know what I was thinking. Things are just so…" he trailed off and gestured vaguely in the air, searching for the right word. "No, it's fine," Olivia said, blushing at the thought that Archer felt sorry for her, "I did the same thing – and then it hurt like hell. And I think," she said, as she stared at the bruise, "that my hip might be fractured, because it's a deep hurt, not a bruise kind of hurt, but I can't be sure," Archer reassuringly patted Olivia's shoulder as she grew pale again as the pain in her hip flared. "Where's Phlox when you need him, huh?" said Archer in a forced happy voice. "Yeah, really," came her strained reply.

"So," said Archer, "what happened? You were on the floor." She hung her head grinning sheepishly. "Well," she said looking quite embarrassed, "going down that flight of stairs was too much for me and by the time I got down here, I was grabbing for anything to lean on…unfortunately I had the bad luck to grab the pot, not the thing the pot was hanging on. And then, it fell on me," She shifted restlessly. "So, back to your question, I know the answer," Archer paused, _Question? What question?_ He thought back and then remembered that before Olivia had nearly collapsed that he had wondered where they were. "You know where we are?" he said in excitement. She nodded, her eyes looking glassy all of a sudden. Archer put a steadying hand on her shoulder. "So…" Archer said, verbally prodding her. Her eyes focused again, "Oh, sorry sir. I just…"she gestured vaguely in apology, "We're in my uncle's house,"

"Wait, what?" said Archer. He felt like his brain might explode in confusion. "This is my uncle's house. I've been here many times and I know it well. It's in Newmarket, New Hampshire,"

"So," Archer said trying to comprehend the magnitude of the situation, "you mean, we're on Earth?" Olivia cocked her head, thinking. "Well, I don't know if we're on Earth, but we're definitely in my uncle's house. I need to stand up for a while. Can you help please? My legs are falling asleep," Archer helped her up. She was leaning heavily on him in an attempt to not put any pressure on her right hip. "So what did you mean by that?" Archer asked as he helped Olivia slowly walk around the little kitchenette in an attempt to restore circulation to her legs. "What did I mean by what?" she said looking confused. "You said, 'I don't know if we're on Earth, but we're definitely in my uncle's house.' What did you mean by that?" Archer asked.

Olivia looked at Archer and they paused for a moment before continuing to walk around the kitchenette. "I just meant that I _know_ this house, I've been here tons of times. But, at the same time, I can't find any logical explanation for how we would've gotten back to Earth all the way from the expanse. It seems to me that a good way to gain anyone's trust is by putting them in a situation they're comfortable with. I mean, we seem to be on Earth, and we seem to be in my uncle's house, but maybe it's all fake…just to lure us into a false sense of security or something," Archer looked at Olivia and saw sweat running down her face from the effort of walking with her injured hip.

"That's right!" came a voice from nowhere. Olivia and Archer both started in surprise as a man appeared before them from out of thin air. "You _are_ a smart one, aren't you!" the man exclaimed happily as he tried to pinch Olivia's cheek. Olivia pulled back from him. "Who are you?" said Olivia, looking frightened. She felt Archer tense as he said, "He's my father,"

**To Be Continued**

**Yes, I know, I'm a jerk because I keep leaving all you guys hanging. So, things get even more mysterious…and they only get weirder from here. As always, keep reviewing to let me know that you want to hear more of the story****. I won't keep writing if no one's reading! Anyway, the next chapter will be up soon, I promise. Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	5. The Experiment

**Author's Note: Hey guys. Sorry it took so long for me to put up this next chapter. I have this crazy thing called school and a job, and every once in a while, I need to do something towards that. LOL! ****That, and I went home this weekend…****Anyway, here it is. I promise, this time you really find out where they are and ****what has happened to Archer and Olivia. Please read and review. There's no point in continuing if no one is reading! Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

"Wait, what?" said Olivia, glancing up at Archer, whose face was a mask of confusion. "He's my father," Archer repeated, looking stunned. "And my father's dead," The happy looking man in front of them only grinned more broadly. Olivia stared at him. It was easy to see the resemblance. Both men had brown hair and brown eyes, both wore the trademark look of determination in their faces. "Well," said Olivia, reasonably, "we were both dead before, I mean, I remember dying. So, maybe, we're in heaven?" For a moment, Archer forgot the man who looked like his father standing before him, and focused totally on Olivia. "So, what are you saying? That I'm…" he couldn't bring himself to say the word "dead".

"Look," she said, now slightly annoyed, "I'm not saying that's right, I'm just guessing. I mean, you and I were both shot. You remember dying, I remember dying, and you say that this is your dad, and that he's also dead. So, logically, doesn't it make sense that we are in heaven, or the beyond, or whatever you believe in?" Archer shook his head at her flawless logic. _T'Pol would be so proud,_ he thought wearily.

For the first time, Archer's father interrupted. "No, no, no!" he said. "Come now, Olivia. You were much closer the first time." Looking puzzled, Olivia said, "What are you talking about?" Archer's father smiled indulgently. "You said, 'It seems to me that a good way to gain anyone's trust is by putting them in a situation they're comfortable with. I mean, we seem to be on Earth, and we seem to be in my uncle's house, but maybe it's all fake…just to lure us into a false sense of security or something.' And you were right."

She unconsciously shifted herself away from him as she felt Archer tense. "So, you're admitting that this is all a trap?"

"No!" Archer's father said, now looking annoyed, "The best way to make anyone trust you is to put them into a situation they are comfortable with. We want you to trust us, so we presented you two with a situation you'd be comfortable. For you, Olivia, we recreated the house you spent many happy hours in growing up. For you Jon, we recreated the image of your father, a man you trusted and respected beyond all others. And for both of you, we gave you the comforts of Earth: beds, bathrooms-"

"These spiffy pajamas," Olivia interrupted. "Because, no offense sir, but I don't just have PJs monogrammed with your initials sitting around in my uncle's house," For the first time since that fight onboard Enterprise, Archer smiled. Then a thought occurred to him.

"So," Archer said slowly, "You're not really here?" His father smiled. "Oh no, I am really here, I have just taken on the guise of your father so that you might both feel more comfortable with me. We show each visitor the form they are most likely to accept. However," his father said, suddenly growing thoughtful, "if you'd like, you may see our true form,"

Both Archer and Olivia nodded. Archer's father waved his hand in the air. For a moment, he disappeared. A bright light filled the room forcing both Archer and Olivia to cover their eyes. A few seconds later, the light had dimmed enough so that they could open their eyes. Before them floated what looked like a ghost. It was silvery and opaque. It looked so innocent floating there in the air. Most unusual of all, other than its ethereal appearance, was that in the midst of the swirling smoke was a human face. While the body of the being was constantly in flux, its facial features, made of the same smoky material, were well defined. "Whoa," Olivia muttered in awed tones. Archer didn't know what to say. For a moment, no one said anything, until the being spoke, "This is my true form. Most lifeforms are not sufficiently mentally advanced to accept us as we are. It is because of this that we presented things to you as we did."

"So, that's why you were so happy?" asked Olivia, "Because I kind of understood what you were doing?"

"Yes," the being answered, with a happy smile. "It is rare that the beings we save are intelligent enough to comprehend the situation they are put in. This is a treat for us. You are a species worth studying."

"Wait a minute," said Archer, "so, you're the ones that saved us? Why didn't you heal Olivia all the way?" The being looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "We tried to heal you both all the way. We began with your chest injury," he said, pointing to Olivia, it was the most life threatening of your three injuries. If we were to save you, that first must be dealt with. Once that was repaired, you stabilized, and we felt that we could, for the time being, move onto your friend. Next, we healed your injury," it gestured at Archer, "By the time we moved onto the second and third injuries you had," it gestured once again at Olivia, "we were too weak and could not continue without endangering ourselves,"

Olivia, for the first time since she woke up, paid attention to the way her hip felt. She realized that she could now move without the excruciating pain she had before. "My hip feels better, sir," she said. Archer glanced down at her, "Really?" he said. "Yes," Leaning against the island in the kitchenette, she pulled down the right hand side of her pajama bottoms. The redness and swelling was gone. There was only some black and blue bruising. Archer gasped. She yanked up the bottom of her pajama top. The bruises on her stomach from her bullet wound were totally gone.

A smiled curled the lips of the being. "See, while I cannot heal you fully, by healing you I have sped up your body's natural healing process," Olivia could now stand on her own, leaving Archer free to walk closer to the being. "Thank you for healing us. But who are you and why did you heal us? I mean, it's not that I'm not grateful, but why heal us, you don't even know us,"

The being floated away from Archer, through the kitchenette, and out the door. Archer and Olivia followed. "Come," they heard it say, "I will show you who we are," Archer and Olivia hurried out into the brisk New Hampshire air as the being floated right through a tree. As it did so, the hard New Hampshire day flickered. "It's fake," she said and Archer nodded. Together they passed through the projection of New Hampshire and gasped at what they saw.

They were in a floating city which gleamed in the warm sun. All over were more of the same silvery beings. As they all noticed Archer and Olivia, the beings gathered around. Archer and Olivia unconsciously moved closer together. "Here," said the being who had led them there. "Now you see us and our planet as we really are, not as you'd like to see them. My name is Tamrofni. And we," it gestured to around those gathered around itself, "are the Noitacaummoc."

Olivia and Archer stood eyeing the Noitacaummocians as they looked back. "Come," said Tamrofni, "we must go back to your uncle's house, Olivia," They all passed back through the projection and were once again in New Hampshire. "Okay, well that answers one of my questions," said Archer, once Olivia and Archer had settled themselves on the couch inside and Tamrofni was floating comfortably beside them, "but what about why you healed us?"

"We abhor violence," said Tamrofni, "therefore, we seek to protect those that we can. If we fail, we have – ways of bringing the dead back,"

"Ways?" said Olivia, looking both suspicious and curious, "What kind of ways?" Tamrofni smiled. "Not to offend you, but your brains are not sophisticated enough to understand how we can bring back the dead if I told you," Olivia looked insulted for a moment, but then shrugged.

"Well," said Archer, "we really appreciate what you've done for us, but we really need to be getting back to my ship," He was hesitant about saying this. He didn't wish to appear rude or ungrateful, but he and Olivia really did need to at least be in contact with Enterprise so that they could tell them they were still alive. "Oh, well, I'm afraid that's just not possible. You know, you must pay for our services,"

This thought had not occurred to Archer. Could Enterprise afford the price? Bringing two people back from the dead must certainly be expensive. "Of course," said Archer, trying to hide his worry, "we will be more than happy to pay. What is the price for your services?"

"We wish to learn more about you. Specifically, we want to learn more about human emotions. Usually we only choose one subject from a species to study the emotions that accompany that species, but you were both in need of our help, so we took you both. Now, it comes down to the task of deciding which one of you should be our subject for our experiments,"

"Experiments?" said Archer. His internal warning alarm was now going into high gear, "What do you mean, 'experiments'?" The Noitacaummoc did not answer his question, but rather floated away, out of the kitchen. Both Archer and Olivia rose to follow him, concerned looks on their faces. Tamrofni turned around and said, "We have decided that _she_," it gestured towards Olivia, "will be our subject. She is female and younger. Therefore, we believe that we can learn more from her. She will share her emotions more freely. We have learned that those who are younger, and those who are female, in most species, are much more willing to show their emotions to others. This means, that you Captain Archer, must now go," Tamrofni floated out through the door. Archer and Olivia looked at each other in alarm. Out of nowhere, Archer felt a blinding pain in the back of his head and his eyes rolled back in his head. He felt himself fall forward and hit the floor. The last thing her knew, he heard Olivia yelling, "Captain Archer!" and then, he knew no more.

**So, did you like it? I hope you did. Now the story really gets crazy from here. It might take a while for the next chapter to be put up since I have to write it**** first**** and I have a seven page paper, an exam, a meeting with the assistant dean, a blood drive, and work and classes in the next few crazy days! So, if it's not up, you'll know why. If it's not up by Friday, don't expect it to be up until next Monday morning. Sorry! Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. Please review! Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	6. He's Back

**Author's Note: Okay, here's chapter six. I can't believe that so many people are reading! I am SO psyched. So, thanks for making this an awesome story for me. This is only the second serious fanfic writing I have attempted. The first one was kinda successful, I guess, but this one has already gone WAY beyond my expectations. I hope you guys like the story, because I have a feeling that it's going to be REALLY long! Anyway, thanks for being so supportive. I should be reading some articles for my ITI class, but I need to do something fun, so here's the next chapter! Enjoy! Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

Trip sighed as he looked over T'Pol's shoulder so that he could see a picture of an unusual comet fairly close to Enterprise. T'Pol, now Captain, had decided that it would be beneficial for Enterprise to examine such a comet. Over the past six days, an uneasy tension and pallor had settled over the crew of the Enterprise. The funeral had left chaos in its wake. Both bodies had gone and talk all over the ship was centered upon the same subject: What had happened to the bodies? Speculations were flying left and right, each as unlikely as the next, yet given the circumstances in which the bodies vanished, no ideas were totally dismissed.

Trip sighed again and massaged the bridge of his nose._ This is really getting annoying._ Trip thought as he spaced out while T'Pol explained the unusual attributes of the comet they were tracking. _Jon and Olivia are gone. Their bodies could be anywhere._ Trip's anger flared. _It's not fair! _he thought in disgust as he frowned deeply. _Why would someone take their bodies? It's not like they did anything to deserve it…_Once again Trip's thoughts strayed to Jon. _How could it have ended like this?_ he thought desperately. _If only-_

"Commander," came the harsh tones of T'Pol, interrupting Trip's musings. "Commander Tucker," she repeated. He started and looked around sheepishly realizing that he had been caught not listening to her. "What?" he said, looking apologetic. T'Pol raised her eyebrow critically as she said, "I asked you if you were feeling alright. You have been using increased amounts of oxygen, you have seemed distant the past few days, and your temper has been much shorter than is usual for you,"

Trip stared at her. "'Using increased amounts of oxygen?'" said Trip, now looking annoyed, "You mean, I've been sighing a lot? That's normal for humans when they're stressed," he said grumpily. "You are feeling stressed?" said T'Pol, in her now irritatingly devoid of feeling monotone, "Perhaps you should go see Phlox," Trip's irritation with T'Pol flared as he stood up. "There's no point in me going to Phlox because what's wrong with me, he can't fix," T'Pol looked at Trip, uncertain. "Phlox is quite skilled at healing many ailments. How can you be so sure that he cannot help?"

"Because," said Trip, striding away from her to the empty Captain's chair, "_this_ is my problem!" He pointed at the empty chair. Now extremely concerned for Commander Tucker's sanity, T'Pol said, "Captain Archer's chair is the cause of the ailment you are experiencing?"

"No!" said Trip loudly. By now, the whole bridge had completely forgotten the comet and was quietly watching the spectacle unfolding before them. Everyone had felt tense since the disappearance of the bodies and everyone was waiting to see who would crack first. That's not say that the crew of the Enterprise was excited to see whose mental stability would give first, but they had all felt the shared tension, almost as though it were in the air, and so it seemed only inevitable that soon the stress would take its toll on some crewman or other. "My problem," said Trip loudly, pointing vehemently at the Captain's chair, "is that Jon is not sitting in it! He disappeared, T'Pol! And what are we doing about looking for him? Squat, that's what we're doing. I mean, for Christ's sake T'Pol, we're checking out a comet when we should be looking for Jon and Olivia!"

For a few moments, no one said anything. With the exception of T'Pol, everyone had been feeling the same way as Trip, but no one had been willing to broach the subject with T'Pol. Finally, it had just exploded onto the bridge, and no one was quite sure what to say. "Commander," said T'Pol, looking stern, "Captain Archer and Lieutenant Edwards are both dead. While their physical bodies may have disappeared, they were, indeed, dead. The disappearance of their bodies does not change that fact. We are continuing this mission following the logical course of action and …"

"How do you know?" said Trip, glowering with anger. "How do I know what exactly?" asked T'Pol, he face, as ever, neutral. "How do you know that they might not be alive? Why couldn't something change that?" Trip was now near tears. "We meet people all over the galaxy and no one has a way to reverse death? In all the millions of species out there, doesn't that seem highly _illogical_ that no one has a way to bring back the dead?" He was mocking her, sarcasm and anger laced his words. He mean them to hurtful, he wanted to sting her with her own indifferent logic. He knew that he was being mean, but he couldn't help himself. _Always so damn __impassive. Jon is gone and she doesn't even seem to care._ Trip sighed and unclenched his fists, which he hadn't realized that he had clenched in the first place. "T'Pol," he said more quietly as he hung his head in shame, "I'm sorry. It's just that, I can't believe that Jon's really gone, it just seems wrong without him. I feel like this place is empty now that he's gone, and I'm just having a really hard time dealing with that. And I think that everyone else can hardly believe it too. You can just feel it. It's just…" he gestured vaguely, searching for a word that would come even close to describing just how sorry he was before he muttered, "I'm sorry,"

T'Pol arched her eyebrow before saying, "I accept your apology, Commander. I, too, have felt the tension about the ship since the Captain – departed. While I realize it is hard for everyone, I am doing all I can to recover the Captain's body. However, continuing on our present course is the next logical thing to do. We have no idea where the Captain and the Lieutenant have gone, and we have no way of tracking them. Blindly searching would be pointless and would waste precious time. As to your statement that there must be some species able to reverse death, I believe you are correct. Simply due to sheer volume of species in the universe, it seems logical that one of them should possess such an ability,"

The whole room, which had been holding its breath, seemed to let out a sigh in unison as the apology was accepted and the situation was diffused. Malcolm, who was sitting at the weapons center found himself watching Trip very closely. He shook his head slightly at the outburst and waited, sure that a reprimand would follow, but none did. Hoshi looked back and forth between Trip and T'Pol, unsure of what to do. At this particular moment, she felt unsure about what to do. She had all these language skills, and yet at the moment, they all seemed so useless. She had no idea what to say to make Trip feel better. And what could she say to T'Pol? In her mind she envisioned saying, "_Well, you're a fine Captain, T'Pol, but you're just not __Captain Archer,_" She shook herself mentally at that thought as she tried to say something to break the awkward silence which had settled over the bridge.

Travis sat, blankly looking at the view screen. _C'mon! _he thought anxiously. _There's got to be something out there to distract everyone away from this. This is really awkward._ Little did Travis know that he was about to get his wish. A sensor beeped on the console in front of Malcolm, startling everyone. "A ship approaching," said Malcolm, his voice flooding with relief that there was something – anything – to break the silence. The bridge snapped to life. Suddenly, everyone had forgotten the altercation and the approaching ship was the only thought on their minds. T'Pol sat in the Captain's chair as she asked, "Does the configuration tell us who the ship belongs to?"

"Negative," said Malcolm, tensing. "I've never seen this configuration before and it's not in the database." A second later, a booming voice could be heard all over the ship. The voice was so loud that it was almost deafening. "We have finished with him. You may now have your Captain back," There was another blinding flash of light, like when the bodies had disappeared, and Archer has standing in front of the view screen. "Jon!" Trip yelled, looking ecstatic that Archer was back. Archer's eyes were unfocused. He swayed on his feet and fell forward onto the floor. In seconds, the entire bridge crew was gathered around Archer. "Captain," said T'Pol loudly, "Can you hear me?" She felt his neck and found a pulse, sluggish to the point of alarm, but still there. His eyelids fluttered open and he glanced vaguely at those assembled around him before focusing on T'Pol. "Who are you?" he slurred. His eyes fluttered closed and his body spasmed. "Call Phlox!" T'Pol yelled to the bridge at large. Hoshi launched herself over to the Comm panel as T'Pol said to Archer, "Captain, can you hear me? Captain!"

**Okay. So, that's Chapter 6…I hope you liked it. Up a lot sooner than you thought, huh? I think I surprised myself too with**** how fast I was able to get these past two**** chapter****s**** up, considering how busy I am…Anyway, so Archer's back and they know he's alive. Now the question becomes what will happen to Olivia and what's wrong with Archer? That, my friends, is being saved for later…Mwahaha! LOL! Anyway, please review. I won't continue if no one is reading! Thanks. Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	7. Realization and Torture

**Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this online, guys. I've been super busy with classes and work and writing my paper**** for my IT class****. LOL! Anyway, so here's chapter 7, I hope you enjoy it! Please, read and review, I won't continue if people aren't reading!**** This chapter is dedicated to Ladyhawke Legend, thanks for the complement of asking me to beta for you! This chappie is for you!**** Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

Olivia watched in horror was Archer fell to the floor. "Captain Archer!" she yelled frantically as she rushed to his body. She reached to see if she could find a pulse only to have Archer vanish. One moment he was there and the next he was gone, as suddenly as if he had never even been there in the first place. Olivia stood up and glared angrily at Tamrofni, who was smiling vindictively at her. "You bastard," she growled, teeth clenched. "What have you done with him?"

"Now, now, manners, Olivia," Tamrofni said warningly. "You really need to be polite to the people who are your hosts," Anger flared at the way he addressed her. He was talking to her like she was an ignorant child and she hated that. "You're not my host," she spat angrily, "because a _host_ doesn't keep you against your will. A host lets you come and go as you please and is hospitable about it. You are _not_ a host," She had lost her temper and let her mouth go. As soon as she said it, she realized that she should not have said what she did, but by that point it was too late to change it, so instead she stood glaring resolutely at Tamrofni.

"Not a host…" Tamrofni seemed to be pondering her words very carefully. "Well, if that really is the case, then we can abandon all pretense of being one." Olivia unconsciously stepped back from Tamrofni. "You should be glad that we disposed of your Captain. He is in a much better situation than you are. He has the care of an excellent doctor and the support of his crew, whereas you have **no ****one**," The last words were spoken nastily, but Olivia ignored it in favor of discussing more important matters. "'The care of an excellent doctor?'" she repeated. Her face lit up, "You mean Phlox? He's with Phlox? He's back on Enterprise?" Olivia was thrilled. At least Archer was safe. And if he was safe, then he could tell the rest of the crew what had happened and where they were, and then they could rescue her! Her heart leapt at the thought, and then fell just as quickly when she realized that neither she nor Archer knew the name of the planet they were on, or even the general region of space it was in. In trying to find her, they were looking for a needle in a haystack. As if he was reading her thoughts, Tamrofni said, "Your Captain's being back with his crew will do you no good."

"Yes it will!" said Olivia illogically, "They'll find me, I know they will. They never leave anyone behind – and that includes me!" she said confidently. Tamrofni floated cover so that he was right next to her. He bent over and whispered in Olivia's ear. "Why should they come back for you? I mean, how important are you really? The youngest member of the security team, I mean, come on. You really are, in all senses of the word, expendable. Why bother to waste all the supplies, time, and man power, to save you when they can, just as cheaply, get another body to fill your space?" Olivia pulled back defensively and said, "That's not true. They'll come and find me. I know it!" But despite her confident air, the seed of doubt had been planted in her mind._ Tamrofni is right!_ She thought in despair. _Why would they come to find me when they already have the really important p__erson back?__ No! _she interjected violently into her own thoughts _They __**will **__come to find me. We never leave anyone behind._ "Liar!" Olivia yelled as she looked for something to use as a weapon against Tamrofni and his lies. She realized for the first time how empty she felt without a phaser by her side. Tamrofni shook his head, looking amused at Olivia's pathetic attempts to protect herself from him. "While we are going to use you for our experiments," he said, and evil grin spreading across his face, "I really think it's appropriate that first you be taught a lesson in manners,"

Olivia's eyes widened in horror at the evil look on Tamrofni's face, and she ran past him, heading for the outside door. As she crossed the doorway of the kitchen, she hit something impenetrable, running at full tilt, and was thrown bodily back into the kitchen. She hit her head on the floor as she landed. She sat up feeling dizzy and looking stunned. "What?" she murmured uncomprehendingly. "A force field," said Tamrofni, looking lazily superior. "Very handy for keeping our test subjects where we want them. We only use it on the combatative ones. As I said before," he said, advancing upon her, "you must be taught a lesson in manners first!"

And with that he touched her on the top of her head with his ethereal hand. Olivia screamed in sheer pain. It felt like every cell of her body was on fire and yet she couldn't escape it. Her body twisted and writhed on the floor, attempting to get away from the source of her pain, but to no avail. Her screaming pieced the kitchen, and in her pain hazed mind she thought, _S__urely__ someone will hear me and come and help_. Only then did she realize for the first time just how alone here she truly was. Archer was gone. And she was on a world filled with others just like Tamrofni – cruel, heartless, and vindictive. As she continued to convulse, her hazy pain filled thoughts lead to the frightening realization that she could be tortured by Tamrofni for as long as he chose since there was no one to stop him. By this point, Tamrofni was laughing vindictively at the pleasure he got from torturing her, savoring the experience. _It was all a lie, s_he thought futilely as she began to the loose the battle between intense pain and consciousness. _They just want to kill me and torture me. They were never good. It was all just another part of their act to fool us. _Continuing to writhe, Olivia was finally granted the goodness of a reprieve when she lost consciousness.

Realizing that Olivia was no longer conscious and therefore no longer able to suffer the consequences of her actions, he removed his ghostly hand from her head. He bent down and mercilessly kicked her until he was rewarded with a grunt of consciousness. Olivia awoke. Her body was sore all over and she groaned aloud as she tried to sit up. "I think," said Tamrofni, looking triumphant, "that perhaps in the future, you will be more polite to me, now won't you?"

Olivia nodded submissively. Anything was better than being tortured again by Tamrofni. She felt like her head might explode and she was shivering all over. "Good," said Tamrofni. As he floated away through the front door, he said, "Now get some sleep. We have a big day of experiments ahead of us tomorrow," Olivia shivered at the thought as she lay on the floor, unable for the moment, to summon the strength to get up. Her only thought was _Captain Archer, I hope you're alright._

**Author's Note: Okay, so there's chapter seven. I hope you liked it. Please keep reviewing so I know that people are reading or else I won't continue writing! Thanks.**** Don't expect the next chapter before Monday – I have company coming tomorrow and they'll be here a few days, so I'll be busy with them.**** Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	8. Feelings

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Here's chapter eight – whoa. ****There are**** already eight chapters and I'm not even started yet! Woo! Anyway, just FYI, there will NOT be another chapter posted before Thanksgiving since I'm on break and hanging with family. So, this is like my Thanksgiving present to you! LOL! Anyway, please keep reading and reviewing! ****Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

Hoshi punched the Comm button furiously as she yelled, "Hoshi to Sickbay," After what felt like an unbearably long interval, he heard Phlox answer, "Sickbay, Phlox here,"

"Phlox!" Hoshi yelled into the Comm, "Emergency on the bridge. It's the Captain. He's back and he's not well," She could almost hear the flutter of action in sickbay. "I'm on my way," he said before closing the link. Hoshi hurried back to the group surrounding the Captain and was distinctly disturbed by what she saw. Malcolm, Trip, and T'Pol were holding the Captain down as he writhed on the floor. "Captain," T'Pol said loudly, in an attempt to make herself heard over the Captain's noise. "Sir," said Malcolm, "You can stop struggling. You're on Enterprise now, you're safe," But nothing seemed to reach the Captain. He kept struggling. He kept repeating over and over again, "Who are you? Why are you keeping me here? Let me go!"

The span of time since Hoshi had called sickbay seemed unbearably long. The crew was used to the Captain in many states – forceful, happy, determined – but this new state of sheer terror and hopelessness was strangely frightening. Archer recognized no one around him. Each face presented a new terror to him. His mind was racing. _I h__ave to escape. These aliens won't let me go. They__ showed me my dad and now they'__re mocking me by showing me my crew. But I won't fall for any of their tricks. I'm wise to them._ Archer continued to struggle as all around him the feelings of his crewmen were a jumble of confusion. Malcolm was crouched near Captain Archer's feet. He was holding the Captain's legs down in an attempt to keep Archer from hurting himself in his panic stricken struggle. _Oh sir._ Malcolm thought desperately. _What have you gotten yourself into this time? I'm the head of security – I'm supposed to protect you!_

Next to him, T'Pol was feeling rather flustered, which was unusual. She could feel a torrent of confused and strong emotions radiating off Captain Archer in waves. First upset, then confusion, then anger, then sadness, then extreme hurt, and then confusion again. This sensation was just as disorienting as if T'Pol herself was experiencing these emotions. Feeling distinctly unsettled, T'Pol tried once again to reach the Captain. She spoke loudly in a commanding voice, "Captain Archer, it's alright, you are safe here," But nothing seemed to penetrate his total panic. As Travis watched the scene unfold, he got a sense of total unreality. _No, _he thought irrationally to himself. _This can't be happening. Captain Archer never loses it – no matter what. He always keeps his control._ Watching his Captain come undone at the seams made Travis feel as though he must be watching another one of Trip's crazy science fiction movies, but he knew it wasn't one.

Meanwhile, Trip was just beside himself with worry. He had his hands on both sides of Jon's face in an attempt to keep him from hurting his own head too badly. Trip was practically in tears as he said over and over, "Jon, please, calm down. It's me, Trip. Come on, you know me. Relax, Jon, it's okay, I'm here for you," But same as T'Pol, Trip entreaties and pleas fell on deaf ears. By this point, the crew as a whole seemed to be feeling that it had taken Phlox far too long to get to the bridge, when in reality it had only been about thirty seconds, at the most a minute, since Phlox had been called.

As if on cue, the turbolift doors swooshed open and Phlox bustled in, all business. He carried a med kit and two orderlies followed him with a portable gurney. The crowd around Archer parted in unison to allow Phlox an opportunity to look at his patient. Phlox paled at the sight of the Captain, both in part because the last time he had seen the Captain he had been dead and in part because the Captain seemed at the moment to be delirious, possibly insane. Phlox bent down over Captain Archer as he ordered Malcolm, Trip, and T'Pol to continue holding the Captain. He felt for a pulse and found one – wild and erratic, mirroring the Captain's outward appearance. Phlox reached into his pocket and withdrew a hypospray, which contained a mild sedative. He knew he mustn't give Archer anything too strong for fear that it would interfere with his already straining heart.

He pressed the hypospray to Archer's throat with little effect. He waited for several moments before realizing that a stronger dosage was needed. He fiddled with the dial on the hypospray, amping up the amount the Captain would receive. He pressed the hypospray once again into Captain Archer's neck and this time he was rewarded with the cease of his restless movements. Archer's eyes remained open for a few seconds before fluttering closed. The Captain's pulse still felt erratic and Phlox knew it was necessary to get to sickbay as quickly as possible. He gestured to the orderlies behind him who set up the gurney and with the help of Malcolm and Trip, Archer was on the gurney. As Phlox and his orderlies rushed to the turbolift, Phlox's only thought was _Hang on, Captain. I don't intend to lose you again._

**Well guys. There it is. Hope you enjoyed it. Please read and review. Happy ****Thanksgiving to you and your families****! Enjoy your holiday and stay safe! Rock on!**

**-Radcliffe Potter**


	9. Memories

**Author's Note: Hey everyone. Here's chapter nine. I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving. As always, please continue to read and review so I know that people actually enjoy the story! LOL!**** Sorry it took so long, I've been really busy with classes and work.**** Anyway, here you go! Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

After lying on the floor for several minutes, Olivia felt that she finally had the strength to get up. Slowly rolling onto her back, Olivia groaned as her muscles protested from their recent abuse. She stood up slowly and looked around her uncle's townhouse. _Could this really have happened?_she found herself thinking absently. Yet from the throbbing pain all over her body she knew that the torture had been real and not just some dream. However, the whole thing still felt so surreal. Here she was in the middle of her uncle's kitchen, which he had stocked to the brim with every single health food product imaginable, and outside in the cold New England winter was a whole other world filled with aliens who wanted to kill her.

She stood up, walked out of the kitchen, around the end of the banister, and slowly worked her way up the stairs to her room. Her body stilled ached with each step and she thought bitterly _I feel like __Grannie_ She laughed aloud at the thought. To cover up the deafening silence which was roaring in her ears, Olivia said aloud to herself, "Come one, come all, see the world's youngest Grannie, Olivia Edwards!" She sniggered at her impression of a carnival barker. She stopped laughing as soon as she started. _Why was that funny?_ She asked herself. _I suppose it really wasn't, _she answered herself in thought, _but at this point I really just need something – anything – to laugh at._ She was about to head wearily straight into her bed room when she decided to explore the house a little more and find out where Archer had slept.

She crept along the hallway, feeling extremely unnerved at the thought that she might be being watched even now without her knowing. She padded silently down the hallway, thankful that she knew where the floor boards creaked. She stepped confidently over the noisy boards as she walked past the piano and around the banister to the next flight of stairs. She went up the stairs and to the door at the top, which she knew to be a bedroom, one that she herself had slept in many times. Cautiously, she pushed the door open, her fists held up, ready to deck whoever or whatever might be there, lurking, and waiting for her.

Once she realized there was no one in the room save herself, she sat down upon the bed and looked around. This always had been her favorite room. There were so many books to read and each one called to her, like an old, dear friend, just waiting to be read. As a young girl, she had loved being the one to sleep in this room. Once her mother put her to bed, she would hop out from under the covers, peruse the shelves, and pick a book. Sometimes it was an old favorite she had read before and sometimes it was something new. Olivia had a cousin Lindsay, who was her age with similar reading tastes. Olivia's uncle therefore always was sure to keep any shelf in the house stocked with books, since he would hate to discourage two young minds with a thirst for reading. Because of this, the room at the top of the stairs always bore hundreds and hundreds of interesting books – fantasy, fiction, nonfiction, poetry anthologies, and short story books – enough to fuel ten thousand dreams with.

Forgetting, for a moment, the situation she was in, Olivia walked over to the bookshelf again. The pain from her torture was gone from her body, though it was certainly fresh in her mind. She reached absentmindedly and her hand came away with Mary Poppins Comes Back by P.L. Travers. She smiled down at the cover as she sat on the bed. She remembered this one well. Whenever she came to her uncle's house, she always had to read the story, "The Cat Who Looked At a King," from this book at least once. As she opened the book and sat on the edge of the bed, she realized that it smelled like Captain Archer in the room. Setting the book down, she sniffed experimentally and realized it was coming from the bed._ This must be where he slept_, she thought excitedly. Putting her face into the pillow and breathing deeply, she found the smell of Captain Archer caught in the pillow: cinnamon, like those red candies he liked to eat, that musky aftershave smell he always bore…she sniffed again, wary….after all this could just be another trick…

The distinct smell of Porthos mingled with all the others as well as a smell she couldn't identify, but assumed was his shampoo. Sitting in the bed, she contemplated the smell of Captain Archer. _They couldn't know all those different things he smells like…but then again, they replicated the whole of my uncle's house, right down to my favorite book on the shelf!_ Olivia felt so confused. How was she to know what was real here? _Was anything real?_ she wondered feeling still more confused. Then a frightening thought struck her – _Was Captain Archer even real or was he just a trick? Was he one of them pretending to be the Captain? _Now starting to develop a headache from all these rhetorical questions which she couldn't answer herself, rather than trudge back downstairs, Olivia pulled the soft covers over her head and fell into a restless sleep.

Next thing Olivia knew, she was awakened by the smell of bacon. She lay in bed, eyes closed, desperately pretending to be asleep. If they were watching her, they might already know that she was awake. However, as she lay in bed thinking sleepy thoughts and dreading the experiments that would come that day, her stomach growled loudly at the smell of bacon. At this point, now that her stomach had ratted her out, Olivia gave up all pretense of pretending to be asleep. She walked into the bathroom and stepped into the shower fully clothed. She turned on the water and watched as her pajamas soaked through. No way in hell was she getting undressed if there was even a chance that the Noitacaummoc might be watching. She shuddered at the thought. This was all too "horror movie" for her tastes and she hated horror movies.

She stepped out of the shower, dripping all over the floor and grabbed for a towel. She wrapped the towel over her lower half and then carefully peeled off her sopping pajama pants, so that in the process she was well covered. She wandered into the bedroom and downstairs to her room, dripping lightly as she went. She reached her own room to find it as she had left it the day before – bed disheveled, books on the bureau table, light in the bathroom still on. She approached the bureau and cautiously opened the drawer. _Hell._ She thought warily. _For all I know one of the Noitacaummocians might be hiding in my drawer to just scare the crap out of me when I open it._ But despite her thoughts, the drawer was still filled with only clothing. She pulled a pair of jeans from her drawer and shook her head in amusement. They were her favorite jeans. These…"people" sure did think of everything. Grabbing the blue O'Neill belt in the drawer, she pulled it quickly through the belt loops on her jeans. In the next drawer up she retrieved a light green t-shirt that had a blue necktie printed on it and said "I've got a bad case of the Mondays". Over that, she pulled a green hoodie with flowers that said "Roots" on it. So what if this wasn't really New Hampshire, it was cold outside!

She trudged downstairs following her nose to the smell of bacon. In the kitchen she found- "Chef!" she yelled looking delighted. "Chef!" she said again, "What are you doing here?" In the back of her mind, she knew that he was a trick, but decided to ignore that for the moment. She was hungry and if Chef was cooking, it must be good. Chef smiled and answered, "Well, I hear you have a pretty big day ahead of you and it's always best to start off with a good meal," He passed her a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit. She set the food aside for the moment needing to get some business done first, "Chef," she said urgently, lowering her voice, "Is Captain Archer okay? Did you see him on the ship?" Chef straightened up and looked Olivia in the eye before saying, "He wasn't doing so well when he came back, no," Olivia glanced at him, worried. "But then again," he said, an evil smile suddenly crossing his face, "Fairly soon, you won't be doing too much better either,"

Olivia looked at him in horror as she realized that the little voice in the back of her head had been right, it was a trick. She stared at Chef, there was a bright flash of light, and suddenly, there was Tamrofni. "What do you want from me?" she asked, now extremely glad that she hadn't eaten any of that breakfast which, for all she knew, could have been toxic. "What do I want from you?" Tamrofni repeated in a mock thoughtful voice, "Well, today we begin your experiments, I hope you're ready," Olivia glared right back at him and said, "I'm not afraid of you!"

"Well maybe," said Tamrofni as he glided closer to her, "You should be," He reached out again to touch her and she shied away remembering what had happened the first time he had touched her. Tamrofni smiled evilly again, grabbed her hoodie with one hand to keep her from moving, and with the other, touched her head. It was like an explosion inside her mind. It was as though someone had put a hole in her brain and now every thought, feeling, and experience she had ever had was spilling out. It wasn't painful exactly, but overwhelming and strange. Things flashed in front of her eyes, times long past, old friends and family, Enterprise, Earth. Tamrofni watched her carefully as though he could see what she saw. Apparently he could because he said, "First we'll work with memories you already have to learn about human emotions, let's start with this one," And he reached out as though working with a touch screen interface and pulled a memory out of the jumble flooding in front of her eyes. She tried to focus on figuring out what memory Tamrofni had chosen, but she could not. She felt a sharp pain in the back of her head like she had been struck from behind, and she crumpled to the floor.

**So, that was Chapter 9. Hope you enjoyed it. Please continue to read and review. Thanks for reading. Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	10. I Was Dead?

**Author's Note: Hey everyone, here's chapter ten – ****oooh**** double digit chapter numbers – I'm all excited! LOL! Anyway, here'****s chapter ten. Please read and review because I won't keep writing if I feel like no one's reading. That would just be a waste of time. LOL! Anyway, on to chapter ten…Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

Phlox, his orderlies, and the gurney flew down the hallways of Enterprise. Crewmen jumped out of the way as the medical team blazed past them. Captain Archer was flatlining again. "We've got V-Fib!" he yelled in frustration. _Damn __it!_ thought Phlox in frustration, _This is just like __before_ He felt a sense of dread flood his body as he remembered the last time this had happened: the sense of urgency, confidence in his own skills, then resignation, and finally sadness as he realized his good friend and Captain had passed on. After what seemed like a ridiculous amount of time, the medical team reached sickbay and headed straight to surgical suite. An orderly with a brown mop of hair cut off the top of Archer's uniform as Phlox prepared the paddles. "Hypoxia is setting in!" yelled the brown haired orderly over Archer's body. "Damn it!" Phlox muttered. Archer's body was running out of oxygen now that his heart had gone into ventricular fibrillation and a lack of oxygen for too long could lead to brain damage, which was perhaps irreversible. Phlox was not about to let that happen to his good friend, not as long as he was there and able to do something.

He placed the two paddles on Archer's chest, yelled, "Clear!" and the paddles zapped with electricity causing Archer's body to arch off the bed. Phlox paused, paddles hovering anxiously over Archer's chest as all of them watched the monitors for a sign of a heartbeat. After a tense second, the heart beat was back. "Steady rhythm!" yelled the brown haired orderly in relief. "Pulse is returning normal," Phlox let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Alright," he said, his voice still tense, "Let's move him into sickbay onto one of the biobeds. I want him to be kept on watch for more symptoms similar to those we just saw, and I want an IV of analgesic started straight away,"

As the orderlies cleaned up the surgical suite, Phlox and the brown haired orderly moved Captain Archer out into sickbay. As soon as he was placed upon the biobed, his vitals sprang up on the monitors above the bed. "Good...good…" Phlox muttered, and then paused. Archer's heart beat, respiration, and pain gauges were within good limits, but something just struck him as wrong. He slid the biobed into the scanner and performed several scans on Captain Archer's still unconscious body. Reading the scans eagerly, something struck Phlox as out of place. In the first few seconds after Archer's body had slid into the scanner, the brain waves had been erratic and inconsistent with the Captain's usual brain waves. However, a split second after this realization, the brain wave readings had stabilized and were back to normal.

As the biobed slid back out of the scanner, Phlox chalked up the abnormal brain wave readings to the stress and trauma of whatever the Captain's latest experiences had been. As long the Captain seemed better once he awoke, Phlox didn't see this fluke reading as anything to be alarmed at. As Phlox began filling out forms detailing the latest medical crisis to give to Malcolm to include in his "incident report", the brown haired orderly put in an IV line with analgesic and a catheter. Over the next few hours, Archer continued to stabilize. Phlox was pleased with the readings he was receiving and he felt confident that Archer should soon wake up.

Just as Phlox predicted, Archer woke up about an hour later. The biobed beeped to let Phlox know that Archer was waking up. Phlox approached the bed in time to see Archer's eyes flutter open. He glanced around unseeing, his vision hazy. Archer blinked several times and cleared his throat awkwardly before glancing next to his bed to see Phlox. "Where…" Archer began tentatively in a gravelly voice. He cleared his throat and tried again, "Where am I?" Phlox pulled up a stool next to the biobed and sat down, scrutinizing Archer very carefully. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Archer's head rolled restlessly to look at Phlox before he answered uncertainly, "Aliens, in the corridor…" Phlox nodded in agreement. "Correct Captain. What happened after that?" Archer stared about sickbay before turning his gaze back to Phlox. A look of recognition flashed across his features, "Phlox," he said softly. Phlox gave a gentle smile and nodded. "Welcome back Captain," he said. "Can you remember what happened once the aliens were in the hallway?" Archer struggled to remember what had happened. "Security…The Security team was in the hallway. The aliens had beamed in and the security team was fighting them off. Malcolm and I had gone down to help. Olivia was there – I saw her, and then the lizard thing was right behind us. It shot her, and then…" Archer looked helplessly at Phlox. "I can't remember any more."

Phlox patted Archer's shoulder reassuringly. "It's alright Captain. You have been through a very traumatic experience; just take it easy for a while." Rather than heeding Phlox's advice however, Archer got up off the biobed. "Captain," said Phlox warningly, familiar with Archer's stubbornness, "Captain," he repeated, "You really should get back into bed for awhile." Archer ignored him and rummaged in the closet for a clean uniform. "Phlox," Archer said with his familiar charming grin back in place, "I've been off my bridge for far too long and I feel fine. If you have any objections to me leaving now, please tell me,"

Phlox hesitated. His medical instincts were telling him to keep the Captain in sickbay, forcibly if he had to, yet the Captain did seem to be fine. He was acting normally and was even smiling his usual grin. "Doctor?" said Archer impatiently. "Well," said Phlox, "I really think it would be in your best interests to stay here, just for today. I can only assume that you have had a traumatic experience," Phlox was hesitant at the moment to mention the fact that last time he had seen Archer he had been thoroughly dead and in a casket. This might, obviously, be a rather startling thing to say, especially to someone who was now definitely alive. Phlox paused, pondering his next move. "Captain," he said quietly, "you remember that the alien in the hallway shot Olivia, but do you remember what happened after that?"

Archer screwed up his face, clearly thinking hard, "No, why?" he said finally. Phlox was torn about whether he should say what had really happened. He decided better to be truthful right now than have the Captain overhear gossip about him death. "Captain," Phlox said determinedly, "You were shot in the chest by the alien in the corridor. Olivia was shot three times trying to save you. Shortly after that, security was able to defeat the aliens in the corridor and Enterprise fought off their ship. You and Olivia were brought to sickbay. Olivia died in surgery; her wounds were too extensive for me to save her. You went into surgery after her…" he faltered now that he had to come to the part about Archer dying. "In the surgical suite, you were unstable and you flatlined five times. The fifth time – we couldn't bring you back. You were officially dead that day – and now you're here and you're alive. I don't know how to explain it, but it's true." Archer paled visibly at the mention of his own death and clutched at the counter for support.

"You're telling me," he said shakily, "that I – died a few days ago and now I'm alive again?" Phlox smiled a small grin. "Well, it's obvious to both of us that you are alive now, but how you got that way, I don't know,"

"What do you mean?" asked Archer, now looking thoroughly confused. "I woke up here and you tell me I was dead and yet you had nothing to do with me being alive now?"

"To be honest," said Phlox, "I can only give you limited information. You died, T'Pol was given control of the ship and she informed the crew of the demise of yourself and Olivia. We held a funeral service several days later. As the funeral was finishing, there was a bright flash of light and both of your bodies were gone," Phlox looked at Archer who, if possible, looked paler than before.

Phlox steered the clearly shocked Archer back to the biobed. As Archer laid back down on the biobed, he said, "What happened after that?" Phlox inspected the vital readings above the bed before answering. Archer was clearly agitated by the whole thing. Phlox walked over to the cabinet, retrieved a hypospray filled with a mild sedative, and injected it into Captain Archer's neck. "This should help you relax a little," he said with a kind glance before answering Archer's question, "After that, I don't know what happened. The ship was on red alert and things were tense. People were searching all over the ship and scanning space to try to find your bodies, but nothing was found. For a few days, things were strange and gossip was running high about what had happened to you two. Earlier today, we received an audio transmission from someone or something, saying that they were 'done' with you and you appeared on the bridge,"

Archer looked blankly at Phlox. "Really?" he said looking dazed. "Yes, you were…" Phlox trailed off searching for the right words, "incoherent and combatative. My orderlies and I rushed you to the surgical suite. You flatlined along the way but we were able to bring you back. Since then, your vitals have been improving. It doesn't seem that whoever had you did any permanent harm to you. I did get some abnormal brain readings briefly, but..."

"What?" Archer cut harshly across him, "What do you mean abnormal brain readings?" Phlox looked at him, surprised by his outburst, "Well, the brain waves deviated from your usual patterns that we have on record, but it was only for a second,"

"So it's nothing to worry about?" Archer said looking at Phlox carefully. "No. I shouldn't think so," said Phlox reassuringly, "If nothing else, I should think that being brought back from the dead would be a great stress to the body,"

"Since I'm fine," said Archer hopefully, "Does that mean I can leave sickbay yet?" Phlox gave a loud, short laugh at Archer's stubbornness as the sickbay doors flew open bringing with them someone Archer greatly wanted to see.

**Okay, so there it is. I hope that you all enjoyed it. Sorry it took so long to get up, but it's only a half a week of classes and then gasp finals, so I'm really working on studying for my finals – especially my math final. So wish me luck on my math final, and I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible given the circumstances. Let me know what you think of the chapter. Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	11. That Night in NYC

**Author's Note: Hey guys, more of Olivia. I have a favor to request of my readers. I know from that "stats" page on that there seem to be about 30 people that steadily read each new chapter as I post it. To those of you who currently post, you know that I ALWAYS respond to your posts, usually giving some slightly ambiguous hints about what will happen in the chapters to come. To those of you who read but do not post, I appreciate that you are even taking the time to read the story, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd do a quick rev****iew once you read. It could be**** criticism. I like knowing what my readers think and suggestions for where the story**** could go are ALWAYS welcome.**** I have used or will be using all of the reader suggestions that I have already received. I will take your suggestions into consideration and work them all in…for ****instance;**** do you think Olivia should have siblings that we will learn about in her memories**** S****hould she have a boyfriend back on Earth**** It's things like that which I can always use suggestions for. Sorry about that, but thanks**** for reading this.**** Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

**Some words ****for the chapter**

**Dojang: A karate training room. Often wooden floored, shoes are forbidden in an effort to toughen students.**

**Bo: A long wooden staff used in karate for defense.**

**Hyung: A series of defensive moves based off of defending yourself in an imaginary attack – also known as a "form".**

**Numchucks: Two short sticks connected together by a chain. Are often used offensively and defensively in hyungs, as are knives.**

When Olivia regained consciousness, she was in somewhere totally unfamiliar. For a moment, she thought she might be dreaming. She slowly got up taking in the surroundings. Before her lay a dingy street in a busy city. Dusk was falling as Olivia gazed at the brownstone apartments across the way. In a moment, she realized all at once where she was and gave a small growl. She frowned. "Not again," she murmured. "Crap, I am NOT going through this again. It was bad enough the first time, but twice…"

But what experiencing this memory for the second time would be like, Olivia never got to finish muttering because a door behind her opened, startling her. She turned at the sound of the door opening and saw a black haired middle aged Korean man come out of the building. She looked down at herself and was not surprised to see that she was dressed exactly as she had been dressed that night. She was wearing her white karate uniform and her second degree black belt. She shifted, suddenly aware that she wasn't wearing any shoes – after all, they were forbidden in the dojang. The Korean man turned around. "Ah," he said quietly as he hurried down the four stairs in front of the building, "Olivia, you are still here. Don't you have a ride?" He glanced both ways down the street as though expecting to see an idling car waiting for Olivia, but the street was full of dark, still cars and devoid of people. "Oh, don't worry," Olivia found herself saying, "My ride will be here soon, Master Zhang. You go on ahead home. I'll be fine,"

The last time this had happened, Olivia had seen, said, and done exactly what she was doing now. There were many times when Olivia wished that she could relive some moment or other in her life, after all, who hadn't, but this was not one of the memories that she was anxious to relive. Not knowing what else to do other than follow her memory, she did the same as before. "Are you sure?" Master Zhang said, eyeing her suspiciously. "Yes, sir," she said, while inwardly feeling as though she should tell Master Zhang that her ride would not come, and that she would spend the night alone and cold on the karate studio's stoop. Master Zhang looked at her once again. "You are sure now?" he asked. "Yes, sir," she repeated obediently. "After all Master Zhang," she added with a grin, "You know I can defend myself," He smiled kindly and said, "Well, if you're sure, I guess I'll see you at class tomorrow,"

"Yes, sir," she said. Master Zhang walked over to the car parked in front of the studio – a blue SUV – pulled out of the space, waved, honked the horn, and was gone. The silence closed in upon Olivia. She was now totally alone, cold, and shoeless. "Damn it all," she muttered, watching her breath swirl in the air, "This is just like last time,"

"Of course it is," muttered a soft voice in her ear. She whirled around to confront whoever was behind her only to find the steps to the karate studio empty. Now feeling distinctly weirded out and slightly sick to her stomach, Olivia closed her eyes. "We wish you to relive old memories," came the voice, "Otherwise, how else are we to learn from you humans?"

All at once, Olivia realized the voice. She turned around again and was surprised this time to see Tamrofni floating above the steps to the karate studio. "Tamrofni," she said in a warning growl, "this isn't funny. I want to leave now,"

"But of course it's not funny," he said, for once totally serious, "This memory was chosen to study your past interactions with desperation, fear, and determination. Later we will study humor. Humor is not something we do not yet understand,"

"That makes you and the Vulcans…" Olivia muttered angrily. "Why can't I leave?" she asked, her voice rising. "Now, now," said Tamrofni placatingly, "We haven't gotten to the important part of the memory. This first part was just filler, so that the rest of the memory makes sense to those watching,"

"Watching?" said Olivia incredulously now feeling distinctly creeped out. "Oh yes," said Tamrofni. "The Noitacaummocians all watch. In this way, our people as a whole can learn about emotions of other species," Olivia made a sort of surprised scoffing noise and said, "So, you're tellin' me that I'm like your TV show?" Tamrofni quirked his head curiously and said, "What is a TV show?"

"Well, it's – Oh never mind," snapped Olivia. "Well," said Tamrofni moving toward the door of the karate studio, "I really must be going," Olivia ran up the steps after him. "Wait," she yelled. Tamrofni stopped and turned to her. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, those watching will see you at the age you were when this memory happened. Also, despite your efforts, you may not make any serious changes to the way this event actually happened. The point of accessing this memory was to study your emotions connected with it. I am going now; you will know when we have finished learning all we can from this memory,"

Olivia was about to yell, "Wait," when suddenly she was as alone again as she was before. She sighed and sat down on the studio's steps next to her karate gear bag and bo. She recalled vividly sitting on the steps for hours. Alone and in a seedier part of the city, at only ten, Olivia had been reluctant to stroll to far from the washed out yellow light of the studio. _Now however,_ she told herself confidently, _I'm nineteen. I'm bigger than I was then. I'm not scared of the dark, and I know how to defend myself._ She searched her memory for more details about this night. After a few moments silent contemplation as her breath swirled in the air, Olivia remembered that the studio was on Twelfth Street. Her family's luxurious uptown penthouse was on 113th street. Olivia sighed. It would be a long walk back home, but she'd be damned if she was going to sit here all night. She only came this far down town to take karate lessons because Master Zhang was the best in teacher in all of New York City and money was not an object for the Edwards family when it came to anything.

Olivia stood up and grabbed her karate bag and bo resolutely. Walking down the stairs to the right, she started the long walk back to her house. She had gotten fifteen or twenty paces from the karate studio when she ran headlong into something immovable. She rubbed her head gingerly and reached a hand out tentatively. It was as if there was a wall in front of her, painted to look exactly like the city had that night. Olivia scowled and muttered to herself, "Right. I guess leaving would be considered 'making a serious change to the event that actually happened,' " Stymied, she returned to the steps and sat.

She recalled that last time she had waited on the steps for hours before attempting to break back into the karate studio to use their phone. But rather than prolong the inevitable, Olivia stood up and went to the door. Rather childishly, she tried the handle only to find it was locked. She sighed and returned to her karate bag. Since she had been being taught knife hyungs in class, she carried around in her karate bag a silver six inch knife for competitions, and a plastic black and silver knife for class practice. Removing the real knife, she returned to the door and slid the blade into the door crack and jiggled it. The door lock clicked and the door quietly swung open. She felt her adrenaline pounding. Last time she had sat outside and had not been able to get the door open – apparently some changes were allowed compared to her memory. However, she couldn't help but feel nervous. What if there was a burglar alarm? The police would soon be swarming all over this place and she'd be in big trouble – even if she only looked ten.

A step into the studio however, Olivia hit yet another wall. Apparently, she had been wrong, very few changes were allowed in this resurrection of her memory. Once again at a loss for what to do, Olivia sighed and sat down in the doorway. She was freezing cold. Her feet were like icicles already and it wasn't even ten o'clock. However, December in New York could be brutal and tonight it was definitely below freezing.

Olivia sat, for several hours, determined not to cry, as she had last time or to show the Noitacaummocians any weakness. After far too long sitting on the cold steps, Olivia needed to get herself moving again. She had lost feeling in her toes, but felt sure that if she moved around, they would feel better. She zipped open her karate bag. Looking past her fighting gear, hair ties, numchucks, and knives, she searched for a pair of socks. No luck. She searched again in the hopes that there might be something to divert her mind from this numbing cold…a book perhaps, or even some homework papers. However, aside from her karate stuff, the bag was empty. Sighing resignedly, Olivia picked up her bo and decided to practice her bo hyung. Walking down the steps, Olivia stopped and assumed the beginning position. With her bo tucked alongside her body, she bowed to the opponent who was not there and began her bo hyung. She closed her eyes and focused solely on her body. She listened to the sound of her bo whirling through the cold night air. Unfortunately, being on her feet just made her realize how much her feet hurt. Ignoring the pain, Olivia continued her bo staff fight with her imaginary opponent and passed some time.

Hearing bells chiming somewhere, Olivia listened as the clock tolled one in the morning and she realized, just as she had last time, that no one was coming. Her father had never been exactly attentive. He had made it clear on many occasions that work was more important that family, but she never believed that her father would forget her for this long. _Well,_ Olivia thought dimly, _there__ was that one time he left me in the mall, started to drive away and then realized that he had left me in the game store…_ As she thought this, Olivia missed one of the moves she had been practicing. She stopped and began her bo hyung again. Diverted for now, Olivia thought dimly that the worst was yet to come.

**So, that was it. I hope that you guys like it. PLEASE read and review! Next chapter – back to Archer and the crew!**** Oh, by the way, thanks for the luck you all sent on my math final – it went great!**** Thanks for reading. Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	12. Could It Really Be Her?

**Hey ****everybody****! Hope you all are having**** a good week. Here is chapter 12****. I just want to give a big shout-out to all my readers – according to the "stats" page on over **_**1,1**__**00**_** people have read the story! Woo! Thanks for the GREAT support guys****, please keep it up****! And now, enjoy the next chapter with the bridge crew. Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

T'Pol came in through the doors of sickbay and Archer thought he felt his heart skip a beat. He had always had a fondness for T'Pol, but now more than ever, he wanted to see her. Having died and gotten a second chance at life, this only served to prove more than anything else had that he did care for T'Pol more than a Captain cared for his Second-In-Command.

She was wearing her usual tan form fitting outfit. T'Pol walked over to Archer scrutinizing him carefully. "Captain," she said in her now unbearable monotone. Archer shook himself mentally. _What had I been expecting?_ He asked himself silently. _Was I expecting T'Pol to come running in and hug me, tears of relief running down her face?_ He smiled slightly at the ridiculous thought. "Captain," came T'Pol's harsh voice intruding upon his pleasant daydream. "What?" said Archer sheepishly, "I'm sorry T'Pol, I guess my mind was on other things. What were you saying?"

"I merely asked you," said T'Pol levelly, "if you were feeling well," Archer sat up slowly with help from Phlox. "Yes, much better than before. Apparently I was dead before." He grinned. "That must have been a fascinating experience," said T'Pol. "How'd you mean?" asked Archer eyeing her suspiciously. "Well," she said calmly, "many humans have wondered what – if anything – lies beyond death. You have died and come back, so you, more than anyone would be well suited to answer that question," Archer sat thoughtfully for a moment before answering. "To be quite honest T'Pol, I really can't remember anything after the alien in the hallway shot Olivia. All I know other than that is what Phlox has just told me,"

"As I said before Captain," said Phlox in a kind tone, "you should not overexert yourself just yet. You have been through quite a stressful event."

"Indeed," said T'Pol, "Captain, it would be best to remain under Phlox's good care for as long as he sees fit." Archer opened his mouth to protest, never being one to just sit around. Archer could barely tolerate being confined to a biobed in sickbay, but he was interrupted by Phlox tutting. Phlox said, "No Captain, and that's final. In case you have forgotten, I do outrank you when it comes to medical matters and if need be, I can enforce my rank, though I would prefer not to," Archer closed his mouth and gave a mental sigh. Phlox could be so difficult at times. Honestly, other than feeling a little tired and slightly disoriented by the amount of time that had passed since the last thing he could remember happening, he felt fine. Maybe if he turned on his usual "captainish" charm he could get out of sickbay earlier.

He turned hopefully toward Phlox, but he'd be damned if Phlox couldn't read him like a book because Phlox said warningly, "The answer is still no Captain. I would like to keep you under supervision for at least the next twenty four hours," Archer frowned, defeated. He thought about turning to T'Pol in the hopes that she might lobby with Phlox for his release, but then remembered that she had already told him to stay here in sickbay. _If Trip was here,_ he thought bitterly_, he'd stick up for me!_

Just then the doors to sickbay swished open and Trip came flying in. _Think of the devil, _thought Archer wryly. Archer heard Phlox mutter something about, "So much for not getting the Captain overly excited," when he overshadowed by Trip. Trip ran to Archer's bed side and gave him a bone crushing hug. "Jon!" he yelled gleefully, "You're okay!"

"But he will cease being 'okay' if you continue to strangle him," said T'Pol without cracking a smile, though Archer would've sworn that she was joking. Trip grinned widely at Archer and released his crushing hug. "Good to see you again, Cap'n" he said, voice flooding with relief. "Now Commander," said Phlox warningly, "it's not a good idea to get Captain Archer too excited. He's had a stressful past few days,"

"Honestly, Phlox," said Archer, "I feel fine!" said Archer, now slightly annoyed. Why was everyone babying him? "Be that as it may," said Phlox, "As I said before, I'd still like to keep you here at least one night for observation," Archer scowled and Phlox said, "T'Pol, I would like to speak with you. Commander Tucker, please don't keep the Captain too long, he needs his rest." T'Pol and Phlox retreated and Phlox pulled a curtain around the bed to give the Captain and Trip some privacy.

Trip waited until the curtain closed before saying in a shaky voice, "Jon, we lost you –" His voice broke and Trip couldn't continue. Archer reached wordless to his friend and took his hand in his own. "But I'm here now," Archer said quietly. Tears leaked down Trip's face as he looked at Archer. Suddenly looking rather embarrassed he said, "I'm sorry Jon. You're here now, and that's what matters," Archer smiled and said, "I guess seeing me die must've been…" he trailed off looking for an appropriate word, "…weird," Archer finished lamely. "Weird is an understatement," said Trip. "I was pretty upset. I was a real monster after that," he said with a smile and a small laugh. "Really gave Phlox and T'Pol an earful of exactly what I thought,"

Archer laughed at the thought of Trip telling off T'Pol and he suddenly wished he had been there to see the fight go down. In the silence between them, Archer heard the low muttering of Phlox and T'Pol conversing. Trip wiped his face with his uniform sleeve and got up. "Well, Cap'n," said Trip, "I should probably be leaving. From what I've heard, you've already been a bad enough patient," Archer looked indignantly at Trip, "What do you mean a bad patient?" he said. "I've heard that you already tried to leave once!" said Trip with a chuckle. "Just like you, Jon,"

At this point, their conversation was interrupted by Phlox and T'Pol returning. Phlox slid the curtain away from the biobed, surprised to see Trip still there. "Now Commander," said Phlox reproachfully, "I thought I told you only a minute with the Captain,"

"You did, Doc. I was just leaving. Bye Cap'n," Trip turned and walked away muttering something about realigning the phase coils in Engineering. Phlox looked at Archer. "T'Pol and I have been discussing and we agree that you should stay here just for tonight. Since your vital signs are strong and you seem to be doing well enough, aside from you loss in memory surrounding your death, I see no reason to keep you here any longer than breakfast tomorrow. Until then, T'Pol is in charge of the ship. Do you have any problems with that course of action?" Archer shook his head quietly.

"Good," said Phlox happily. "I should be returning to my duties upon the bridge," said T'Pol quietly. She turned to Archer. "Captain," she said, "we are planning to investigate further into the source of the message we received moments before you returned," Archer nodded approvingly and said, "Please notify me if you find anything significant. If I'm alive, there's a chance that Olivia may also be alive." T'Pol nodded. "That would seem logical," Archer smiled at her and T'Pol excused herself to go back to the bridge.

Phlox watched T'Pol leave and then turned back to Archer. "Captain," said Phlox brusquely, "You need your sleep. You are obviously exhausted, but I want to ensure that you sleep soundly, so I'm going to give you a moderate dose of sleep medication," Archer nodded and said, "You promise to notify me if anything important happens with my ship?" Phlox smiled kindly. "Captain," he said as he layed his hand gently upon Archer's arm, "I know how passionately you feel about your ship and your crew. You know I would not keep anything important from you,"

Satisfied with this response from Phlox, Archer laid down on the biobed and allowed Phlox to inject him with the hypospray. The effect was almost instantaneous. Archer had barely begun to contemplate his conversation with Trip when he was soundly asleep. It felt like only moments later when Archer was being shaken awake. "Mmmph," he muttered sleepily as he attempted to shy away from whoever was bothering him. "Cap'n," came Trip's soft southern drawl, "Cap'n" Archer felt his shoulder being shaken again. He reluctantly peeked open one eye. He saw Trip hovering over him. "Cap'n," he said again. "Mmm…what?" said Archer, still thoroughly sleep hazed from his exhaustion and his medication. Trip waited for a moment as he helped Archer sit up on the biobed. Archer closed his eyes sleepily, but Trip could tell that Archer was still awake. "We've been looking into that audio message that we received a few seconds before you were back on board, and we think we've found something."

Suddenly, Archer's eyes were open and he was listening. "Olivia?" he asked hopefully staring at Trip. "Well, not yet," said Archer gently, "but we were able to trace where the signal came from and we've set a course to follow the path the signal followed," Archer was excited. "I need to get to the bridge," he said quietly. "I don't think so," said Phlox who had apparently been listening in upon the whole conversation, "in case you have forgotten Captain, you are scheduled to be in here until breakfast time this morning. The only reason I even let Commander Tucker wake you was because I promised you that I would not deprive you as to information on the status of your ship,"

"But this is important!" said Archer as he got off the biobed. He immediately felt so dizzy that he came very close to passing out. His legs buckled and Archer would've hit the floor if Trip hadn't been there to catch him. "Cap'n!" yelled Trip, instantly worried. Archer made a soft groaning noise. "Doc, is he okay?" said Trip as Phlox hurried over. "Oh, yes," said Phlox calmly, "A side effect of the sleep medication I gave him before can be dizziness. I suspect his getting up so suddenly made the dizziness seem rather overwhelming," Trip and Phlox helped Archer back on to the biobed. Archer sat there with his head hanging and said, "What time is it now?"

Trip glanced around for the clock before saying, "Two thirty," Archer looked up, "In the morning?" Trip grinned and said, "Yup, only four and a half more hours until you can break outta here," Archer gave a small chuckle. Phlox put a hand on Archer's back, "Still feel dizzy?" he asked quietly. "No," said Archer, "much better now, thanks,"

"Now Commander," said Phlox warningly, "I need to ask you to leave or the Captain will never get his rest," Trip grinned broadly at Jon and said wheedlingly to Phlox, "Aw, c'mon Doc. I promise I'll be a good boy," Phlox eyed him quietly with a look that plainly said, "No," Trip shrugged, looked at Archer and said, "Well, can't say I didn't try. How about I see you on the bridge after breakfast Jon?"

Archer nodded and watched Trip's retreating back exit sickbay wishing that he too could be leaving. "Now," said Phlox, "you need to get more sleep between now and breakfast time. If you don't, I may have to keep you here longer," With that incentive, Archer lay down and closed his eyes. After what felt like another short period of time, he was awakened again, this time by Phlox. "Captain," he said, "it's past breakfast time, but you were sleeping so soundly that it was obvious that you needed your sleep," Archer sat up abruptly. "What time is it?" he asked looking around for the clock. "Ten thirty," said Phlox. "Ten thirty!" said Archer, annoyed. "Well, does that mean that I can go now?" Phlox smiled. Archer was never one to be kept in sickbay for long. "Yes, Captain," said Phlox, "You may leave, though I would advise getting up slowly in case you have another spell of dizziness like the last time you tried to get up so soon."

Heeding Phlox's advice, Archer got up slowly, but didn't feel dizzy. He gingerly tested himself standing up and felt normal. "Thank you Doctor," said Archer, clearly in a hurry to leave. Phlox excused himself long enough to give Archer some privacy to change into his uniform. Just as Archer was zipping up the blue outer suit, the Comm panel beeped and Archer went over to answer it. "Sickbay," he answered, wondering if he should've just let Phlox get it. "Cap'n!" said Trip loudly, "Just the man I was looking for. You've been discharged, right?" he said anxiously. "Only just," replied Archer looking in Phlox's direction with a small frown of annoyance at the time he had wasted when he could've been catching up the status of his ship.

"Apparently," said Archer, "I overslept," There was a pause. "Hmmm…" said Trip thoughtfully, "Well, you must've needed it. Anyway, we've been following the path that the audio signal arrived from and we've almost reached the end of the signal trail. Just thought you'd like to be here for this." Archer nodded though Trip couldn't see it. "I'll be right there," he said, shutting off the Comm link. He turned back to Phlox, who was watching him, gave a quick, "Thanks, Phlox" and was out the doors.

Archer strode down the corridors and into the turbolift. Impatiently he jabbed at the bridge level button and waited as the turbolift took him to the bridge. His exit onto the bridge was greeted by a round of warm smiles. "Good to see you again sir," said Hoshi quietly. Archer smiled and nodded. "You're feeling better sir?" said Malcolm. Archer nodded and gave a quiet, "Yes, thank you Lieutenant,"

"Sir," said Malcolm approaching, "Whenever you have time, I really do need to interview you so that I can include your statement in the latest incident report I'll need to be filing. Anytime you feel ready sir, there's no hurry," Archer gave a curt nod and said, "How about over lunch, Lieutenant?" Malcolm nodded, but inside he was groaning. He hated having to eat in the Captain's mess. Not that he wasn't appreciative of the offer, he really did appreciate that the Captain found him good enough company to ask to dine with, but it always felt more like he should be being reprimanded instead of having casual conversation. Mayweather interrupted Reed's thoughts by saying, "We've almost reached our destination, sir,"

Interview with Reed forgotten, Archer sat expectantly in his chair, gazing excitedly at the view screen. Everyone watched as a small planet came into view. Archer felt his breath catch in anticipation. Hoshi had her hand up to her earpiece listening intently and then said, "Captain, I'm picking up a signal, but I think it's both audio and visual,"

"Put it through," said Archer, his calm voice belying his true inner feelings of excitement and agitation. The image that came through made Archer gasp aloud. There was a young girl dressed in a black and white uniform. She turned and he caught a glance of the face. Archer let out another gasp. If he didn't know any better, he would swear that the girl on the viewscreen was a young Olivia Edwards.

**Okay…so that was chapter 12. Has anyone else noticed that these chapters keep getting longer and longer? LOL! I guess I'm getting more into it as I realize that all of you are getting more into. Please keep reviewing for me, I swear, I will reply! Thanks for reading. Also, there's a really great story on that I just wanted to give a shout out to…everyone read Of Demons and Angels by Ladyhawke Legend. It's an excellent story in the progress of being posted, so everyone give that a read too! Again, thanks for reading and reviewing. Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	13. He Promised

He Promised…

**Hey everyone. Sorry it took so long to update. I had three finals (my first college finals) to prepare for****, which went very well,**** and then the holidays were here and I was busy with tons of family and friends stuff. I hope you all had a great holiday. Actually, I guess this**** chapter**** is sort of a New Year's present to all of you. Anyway, happy New Year! Please, as a New Year****'s**** present to me, read**** chapter 13**** and ****review****! I hope you like it…now back to Olivia's memory…rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter **

Olivia spent the next few hours going over every form she could ever remember being taught by Master Zhang. By now her feet were bright red. She cursed herself mentally. _Why didn'__t I go back for my__ shoes when I had the chance?_ She berated herself silently. She sat dejectedly on the stairs in front of the karate studio recalling the events that happened before she ended up spending the night outside the studio. Jackson, the Edwards' butler, had driven Olivia to her karate lesson. That December day had been unseasonally warm. Since it was the midsixties that day, Olivia had simply grabbed up her grey plaid shoes and socks and jumped into the back of the Ford Ranger.

Driving through the busy streets of New York City, Olivia had been oblivious to anything that was happening. Only one thought had been on her mind. The whole day she had been thrilled because her dad was coming home. He had been away for an extended business trip in Spain. Mr. Dominic Edwards was the founder of one of the biggest commerical starship companies, Comnexco. His company created and distributed starships all over the planet. All of the ships his company created were not nearly as advanced as Enterprise, but they sold safe and relatively cheap means of short space travel. With a Comnexco ship, suddenly a daytrip to Vulcan or a jaunt over to Denobula became manageable by the upper middle to high class family. And since such people both wanted to travel to nearby planets and could afford to do so through Mr. Edward's business, the company was a complete success. Within the first year, Mr. Edwards had made a half a million dollars. By the next year, a billion. Each year he became richer, but there was never enough money. In the beginning, his aspirations were noble: to create his own business to support his family so that they could live in comfort. Unfortunately, comfort was always just out of reach in Mr. Edwards' mind. He now spent his time catering to finicky clients who wanted custom built ships and traveling the world in search of new buyer markets for his product. He seldom spent time at home, and when he was home, he secluded himself in his office, working out plans for the latest Comnexco ship model. His children were always bottom priority.

But at this juncture in time, none of that mattered to Olivia because her father had agreed to pick her up from karate. She had envisioned in her mind her father pulling up in his sporty red mini Cooper, jumping out, and scooping her into his arms. Olivia's father had always been a busy man, but she felt sure that this time, he would really come. Olivia sighed as she remembered all the times her father had been too occupied by other things to do something really important for her, but she pushed the thought aside. Once the Rover had pulled up at the karate studio, Olivia had jumped out without her shoes, distracted by the thought of her father coming. Jackson had yelled out the window, "Olivia, your shoes!" Already half way up the stairs and fueled by her excitement, Olivia yelled back. "Never mind, Jackson. I don't need them. It's warm out right now, and my Dad will be here right after class – he promised!"

Jackson shook his head mentally. Dominic Edwards was a busy man. He had always let Olivia down as a kid – hell, he had let all his kids down – but she continued to believe that the next time he would actually keep his promise. "Alright," Jackson yelled in reply. "I'm going home early tonight, but you give me a call to let me know you got home, alright?," Olivia smiled. "I promise I'll call you. But don't you worry, he'll come Jackson, he'll be here! He promised! Thanks Jackson!" Jackson waved, smiled broadly at her, and drove away. Olivia watched the car get lost among a sea of taxis, buses, and other cars before she bounded up the stairs.

The memory was like an electric jolt for Olivia. "Oh my God!" said Olivia loudly to the cold night air, "I have a phone! I totally forgot!" Rummaging through her bag hurriedly, Olivia tossed everything haphazardly onto the concrete searching for her phone. She turned the bag inside out and then looked through the stuff on the ground. She finally found the small grey phone on the sidewalk, caught in another pair of karate uniform bottoms. She quickly shook the phone lose. Last time this had happened, she had totally forgotten that she had a phone. She anxiously flipped open the sleek grey phone. "Crap!" she muttered aloud. The phone had no power. _Why didn't I charge my phone?_She asked herself angrily. Steeling herself for a long cold night, Olivia sat down on the stoop Indian style and pulled her pant legs over her feet.

That night passed in a cold, semiconscious blur. Olivia remembered from the last time this had happened that by this point, hypothermia was beginning to set in. However, just like last time, Olivia was feeling hazy and confused and was unsure what to do to further protect herself. She had no shoes or jacket, since it had been so unseasonably warm earlier – and she had been so sure that this time her father wouldn't let her down. She busied herself with putting things back in her bag, but her hands were shaking so badly and her fingers were so cold and uncooperative, that she couldn't get the zipper on the bag closed. After awhile, it began to snow, very lightly, as it had that night twelve years ago. Olivia pulled the spare pair of karate pants out of her bag and put them on her head. She might look dumb that way, but she figured the fabric would at least serve to keep in some of the heat which was radiating from her head.

As the night passed, strange thoughts kept flickering through Olivia's head. After several hours, Olivia began to feel warmer again like the sun might be coming up a little and wondered if perhaps it would be dawn soon. The next couple hours were a haze of confusion. She wanted to rub her hands together for warmth, but just couldn't seem to pull herself together enough to do so. She took off the pants off her head clumsily, feeling warmer still. She laid down against the cool steps and slipped into semiconsciousness.

An hour later, Olivia stirred vaguely at the sound of slamming car doors. Bright lights were flashing and there was the commotion of a large group of people shouting to one another. Had Olivia had the presence of mind at the time to see what was going on, she would have been stunned to see an ambulance pulled up by the karate studio. A cry broke the silence of the night as Olivia felt someone sit down next to her. "Dad?" she asked, her mind thoroughly hazed. "No," came the soft reply. "It's me, Jackson. I was worried when you didn't call to let me know that you got home okay,"

"Oh, Jackson," Olivia replied weakly, "He didn't come. He didn't come – but he promised, Jackson, he promised he would come!" Jackson put a warm and comforting hand on Olivia's shoulder. She vaguely heard him saying, "God, look how pale she is!" And then Jackson leaned over and said, "I know, love. He said he'd be here, but he's not. But I'm here," He squeezed Olivia's icy hand comfortingly and she weakly squeezed back. "You're very sick Olivia," he said, his voice quavering, but some people are here to help you,"

Olivia must have lost consciousness after that because the next thing she knew, somebody totally unfamiliar was hovering over her. "Pulse is too low!" someone yelled frantically. There was another cry of distress as a familiar voice tugged at Olivia's cold-fogged mind. "Oh my darling!" came a clearly frazzled voice. "There you are! It's me, Mommy. Honey, can you hear me?" Olivia could hear her. She tried to respond, but everything she tried to say got garbled in her brain, only further confusing her. Olivia managed to slur something out that sounded like, "Jibblesnarff," but couldn't manage anything other than that. Giving a rather uncoordinated thumbs up to whoever might be there, Olivia suddenly feared, quite irrationally, that her mother might think she had been drinking because she was so uncoordinated.

By this point, Olivia had totally forgotten that this was not reality, but a rerun of her life. Everything was as real as if it was actually happening. She totally forgot that she was a crewman on the Enterprise, she forgot her worries about Captain Archer, and she forgot the Noitacaummocians. Just as the Noitacaummocians had hoped, the experience was a sensory buffet for them. Since they no longer had corporeal bodies, they had long since ceased being able to have such experiences for themselves. For many of the younger Noitacaummocians, this was the first time that they had ever had such an experience. Tamrofni smiled happily. _If only she really knew,_ he thought, almost wistfully. Though she had been in Newmarket, New Hampshire, and was now in New York City, she hadn't actually been anywhere other than on the Noitacaummocians' planet.

Even as she was freezing to death in New York City, she was carefully hooked up to a large black and grey machine in a science building on their planet. The machine had a clear lid so that anyone who wanted to could see her inside. The machine was tall and oval shaped. Inside, Olivia lay reclined on a cushy black chair. Dozens of wires were connected to her. Five nodes were attached to her head, relaying to everyone the experiences and memories which Olivia was remembering at the current moment. A large screen showed images of what has happening visually while small brown devices attached to the heads of the Noitacaummocians allowed them to experience Olivia's feelings. Her sadness was their sadness, her pain was their pain. It was unlike anything they had ever experienced before, and they liked it. With each passing second, they hungered for more.

Other tubes were attached all over Olivia's body. One tube punctured her throat, allowing her to breathe easily. Another connected to her arm, delivering the needed nutrients to keep her alive and a third connected with her abdomen, removing the waste straight from her intestines. Olivia's dark blue Starfleet uniform was the same one she had been wearing when she died. Three frayed bullet holes in the fabric revealed smooth, white skin. Occasionally, Olivia's body would twitch lightly at whatever experience she was having in her mind.

Back on Enterprise, the crew was receiving a similarly intense show, except they received an unexpected, ethereal guide to Olivia's memories.

**Okay, so that was the chapter. I hope you liked it. Once again, Happy New Year and please ****review****! Thanks. Rock on!**

**-RadcliffePotter**


	14. Don't Worry Momma's Here

Don't Worry, Momma's Here…

**Hey everyone! I'm really sorry that I've been gone for so long. I bet you all thought that I died, but any rumors of my death are, in fact, untrue. **** Anyway, there's been a lot going on lately, the holidays, moving back to school, my parents divorcing, my job, my internship, four classes, I hurt my neck, etc. Yeah, I know, they're probably all lousy reasons, but that's why I haven't posted in so long. For those of you who followed the Giants, congrats! Anyway, here's the latest chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it! Thanks!**

**-RadcliffePotter**

From the moment Archer had seen the girl on the screen, he instinctually _knew_ that it was Olivia. True, she looked even younger than the young private he recalled talking to a few days ago, but nonetheless, he knew it was her. The poor girl he saw was just a little kid, not the highly trained MACO he remembered. Archer glanced around the bridge at the other faces – everyone looked stunned. Travis was frantically checking his controls to see if he might have made some error with the coordinates. While Hoshi, out of habit, had her hand pressed tightly against the earpiece in her ear, despite the fact that both audio and visual signals were being broadcast throughout the entire bridge. T'Pol's eyebrows were arched so high in a look of skepticism that they almost weren't visible under her brown hair. Had the situation been less confusing or less serious, Archer would've laughed out loud at her expression. Meanwhile, Trip, who was hovering behind Archer, opened his mouth with an uncertain look and said, "Is that--" he started to say and then stopped as Malcolm looked at him, wearing a confused expression before sudden understanding lit the tactical officer's features. Being the head of security, Malcolm worked closely with the MACOs. The face of the girl on the viewscreen was so familiar to him. She looked like one of the MACOs he knew, but he couldn't quite place which one. Upon hearing Trip's utterance, the thought that Trip was having dawned on Malcolm as well.

"No." he said abruptly. And then less certainly, he said looking at Trip, "It can't be her? Can it?" Understanding full well what Malcolm and Trip were talking about, Archer answered simply, "But it _is_ her." Hoshi stared at the three men open mouthed as Travis turned around in his chair quickly and eyed Captain Archer. "Wait…what's going on?" the helmsman asked.

"It's Olivia." Archer answered, standing triumphantly as he spoke. "I _knew_ she wasn't dead!" T'Pol looked at him curiously as she said levelly, "That is illogical. She died. We all saw her body --" But before she could finish, she was cut off by Captain Archer. "But I was dead too." he insisted gently, "yet I'm here now." T'Pol closed her open mouth stymied. True, Archer had been dead, but he was here now and there was nothing wrong with him. Therefore, wasn't it equally logical that Olivia could be alive as well? Trip broke T'Pol's thoughtful silence as he said, "But what's happened to her? She looks…different." he finished rather lamely.

"Oh, she isn't different, not really." said an unfamiliar voice from behind Trip and Captain Archer. As one, the whole bridge turned at the sound of the voice. They were all stunned to see an ethereal figure floating on the bridge. Trip uttered a small "Ah!" and jumped away from their visitor. "You're a ghost!" he blurted out, looking pale. The vision of the 'ghost' stirred something previously forgotten in Captain Archer's mind. "He's not a ghost." he said quietly as he approached the being floating before them. "He's a Noitacaummocian."

"A what?" asked Trip, looking at Archer like he had grown an extra head.

At the same time, T'Pol said loudly, "Captain, be careful. This being is an unknown entity. You don't know how dangerous it could be." Not looking at her, but instead locking eyes with the Noitacaummocian, Archer said, "No, I've seen them before."

He heard a noise of disbelief from Malcolm who then said, "Where have you seen them before, Captain?" Breaking his stare with the Noitacaummocian, Archer turned to Malcolm and replied, "After I died, the next thing I knew I was in a house with Olivia. It was her uncle's house in New Hampshire. Then the Noitacaummocians appeared to us…" Archer trailed off. The whole bridge crew gave Archer a look of both confusion and concern. What he had just said, while it made perfect sense in his own mind, made absolutely no sense to the rest of the crew. T'Pol feared for her Captain's sanity. Perhaps all this excitement after such a strain was affecting him adversely. She stood quietly and approached the comm panel. "Phlox to the bridge." she said quietly. Hopefully Phlox could both tell them what this thing was and appraise the Captain's mental stability at the same time.

Archer ignored her and refocused his attention upon the intruder on his bridge. "Who are you and what's happened to her?" he asked angrily as he jabbed a finger behind him at the viewscreen. The being was not the entity Archer remembered talking to before. The ghost floated lazily past Archer toward the viewscreen. He came to a rest along the right side of the viewscreen before answering. "To answer you first question." it said in an annoyingly uninterested voice, "my name is Fmuosa." He paused as though expecting someone to give some words of welcome. Seeing that none were forthcoming, he continued, "As to your second question, I already answered that." Travis was staring at Fmuosa, curiously watching the way his grey, ghostly body swirled like smoke.

Looking up from his contemplation of Fmuosa's body, Travis said, "But you said she wasn't really different, but she is…she looks so much younger." Fmuosa cocked his head and looked at Travis carefully.

"That's true, she is younger." he responded with a grin. "But she won't be for much longer…or maybe she will be." he finished uncertainly. This statement was greeted by silence. As if by way of explanation, Fmuosa added hurriedly, "I wouldn't know, I'm not in charge of those kinds of decisions…"

T'Pol scrutinized Fmuosa very carefully, and then said placidly, "You are not in charge of _what_ kinds of decisions?"

"About what memory we visit next." Fmuosa answered simply. Hoshi opened her mouth, looking thoroughly perplexed and said, "Memories? What do you mean?" Fmuosa glanced at her, a look of complete surprise on his face before responding, "You mean you don't know about that?" Hoshi shook her head.

Now completely fed up with the Noitacaummocians vague and still more puzzling answers, Trip said loudly and abruptly, "Alright, Fmuosa, tell us what's going on. Now!"

Fmuosa looked at Trip and then addressed the bridge in general, "You've been given the honor of watching Olivia with us." Malcolm opened his mouth to ask what exactly he meant by 'watching Olivia', but was hastily shushed by Fmuosa. "Okay!" Fmuosa yelled, now looking angry. "He told me to explain, so I will." He pointed at Trip brusquely and then said, "So, now I'm explaining, which means that the rest of you should remain SILENT!" Pin dropping quiet greeted his outburst. Looking supremely satisfied with himself, Fmuosa glared at each crewmember on the bridge. At this point, the turbolift doors swished noisily open and Phlox walked onto the bridge. Immediately seeing the being, Phlox froze just outside the turbolift doors and they swished shut behind him. Phlox's eyes flicked to the viewscreen, and he too knew instantly that the little girl he saw was Olivia. Apparently this was why T'Pol had called him to the bridge.

"Ah!" yelled Fmuosa in frustration. "You want to watch to!?" he asked Phlox, looking flustered. Without waiting for an answer, he said, "I had no idea that humans and those with them would be so curious. Fine then. Everyone can watch." He waved his hand regally. For a few moments, it seemed as though nothing happened, but then the comm on the captain's chair beeped multiple times. Archer walked back over to his chair and sat down, pressing the button as he did so. "Yes?" he asked impatiently. "Sir." came a voice over the comm, "all the screens in the science labs are showing something weird…like a movie or something. All our readouts are gone." Archer slumped back in his chair at this news.

"That's not a movie." said Archer quietly and he flicked the comm button so that he could receive the next message coming in. "Sir, all the screens in the botany labs are acting up. Did Commander Tucker accidently play a movie night movie shipwide or something? It's like I'm watching TV!" Several messages later, Archer discovered to his horror that every screen in _Enterprise_ was showing Olivia and whatever was going on with her – even screens on the computers in crew quarters. He looked up at Fmuosa.

"What's going on?" he said angrily.

"Well." said Fmuosa, "it seemed obvious to me that everyone wanted to watch, so I gave everyone the opportunity to watch." He shrugged his ethereal shoulders.

"Hoshi." said Archer, "Give me the shipwide comm." She nodded and pushed some buttons on the console in front of her. Archer heard the sound of the comm opening and he began hesitantly, "Attention all crewmembers. We have an – an unusual visitor on the bridge. It seems that we are intercepting Private Olivia Edwards' memories. How I'm not sure, but I think that Fmuosa, our visitor, can explain." With that, Archer nodded at Fmuosa.

Looking supremely annoyed, Fmuosa said, "Hopefully there will not be any more interruptions. As I began to say before I was so _rudely_ interrupted, I am one of the Noitacaummocians. Since we are one of the most intelligent and advanced races to be found in the universe, we preserve that reputation and expand our intelligence by studying the emotions and reactions of other species. We saved your captain as well as Olivia so that we could study them. However, we decided based on her experiences, that Olivia was a better candidate for our study than your captain. Now, we all have the pleasure of watching and learning from her experiences. Being the wise and generous race that we are, we have decided to give the rest of you the option to watch as well. So, I am here to explain to those of you watching what is going on. I, along with all the other Noitacaummocians, am able to see and feel everything Olivia feels, and able to know everything that Olivia knows."

Without meaning to, caught up with his curiosity, Phlox blurted out, "But how?" Fmuosa turned slowly and glared at Phlox before saying, "One of you has asked how this is possible…" He paused then. For the benefit of those on the bridge he turned and for the first time they all saw the small brown box on the side of his head. He continued, "Even I attempted to explain it to you, your inferior minds would not comprehend what I was saying, so there is no point in my bothering to explain." All over the ship, crewmen were scowling at his remark. "Anyway." he continued, either oblivious to or uncaring about their reactions, "what you are all viewing right now is Olivia when she was seven…"

It took Fmuosa only a minute or two to explain the background behind the memory they were all about to watch. Throughout the whole explanation, it was as if the memory was paused. On the screen, Olivia was laying on the cold ground looking rather dazed. Phlox couldn't help but stare at Olivia's unfocused eyes. He couldn't be sure until he saw what was going on, but he was fairly sure that she must be suffering from hypothermia. "So," finished Fmuosa happily, "now she's freezing while she's waiting for her father who will never come – at least not today he won't." Captain Archer abruptly flicked off the shipwide comm before glaring at Fmuosa.

"I can't let everyone on the ship watch this." he stated angrily.

Looking quite taken aback by this statement, Fmuosa said, "Why ever not?"

"Because." said Archer, his hands angrily gripping his chair, "it's an invasion of her privacy. I'm quite sure that she wouldn't want everyone on the ship watching her memories! It'd be embarrassing for her I'm sure and – it's just disrespectful!"

Now looking genuinely confused, Fmuosa said, "You mean she would not share her memories with all of you? How very selfish!"

"Whaddya mean?" asked Trip abruptly. "How is it selfish to want to keep your own memories to yourself?"

"Well." said Fmuosa, looking astonished at this revelation, "we share all of our memories with each other. This way everyone can benefit from the experience. This is why we are so advanced. We all have the experiences of every other Noitacaummocian on the planet. But eventually we ran out of new memories and were reduced to reliving memories which we had previously experienced –" He paused looking around at everyone on the bridge, "But of course, that became boring fairly quickly, so we decided to look at other species' memories. After all, what better way to get to know more about how things workthan studying those different from yourself?"

This was greeted with silence. Fmuosa sighed looking annoyed. "Alright, Captain if you insist, then we will just let those of you on the bridge watch." He waved his hand regally once again. Same as the last time, reports began flooding in from all over the ship. "All back to normal, sir." came the report from Engineering. Similar ones came in from the botany, science, and computer labs. "Now, as I was saying, this is Olivia when she was seven. I think it's time that we continue with this memory." Fmuosa told them. Then after he finished speaking, he opened his mouth again and a weird sort of gargling noise came out of it. He must have had some type of communication device secreted on his person, because the rest of the bridge could hear a voice answering back. Fmuosa smiled happily and said, "They'll be continuing the memory in just a second. You will tell them that I did a good job of explaining things to you, won't you?" he looked expectantly at Captain Archer and the rest of the bridge crew before saying, "If I do a good job, I will get promoted!"

"Promoted?" asked Malcolm looking slightly disgusted at the thought of being rewarded thusly for such a thing. "Yes, I have been assigned to assist you all. If I do a good job, then when we meet another species, I will be allowed to work closer with the subject of study. But, as I said, right now I am not important enough to have control over that…"

Fmuosa's ramblings were then interrupted by a sudden movement from the viewscreen. The memory had started again. There was a moment of scuffling as everyone on the bridge who had a chair turned to the viewscreen and then it was silent again.

Olivia was lying on the ground not moving. "I believe I said this before, but just in case you don't remember, Olivia has been left at karate practice. Her father was due to pick her up straight after that practice. He promised her as much, but then again, Dominic Edwards was never a man to keep his word-"

Fmuosa was cut off by Trip who exclaimed, "You mean _the_ Dominic Edwards?"

"The very same." replied Fmuosa blandly.

"Hold on a minute." said Malcolm, looking from Trip to Fmuosa and back again, "what do you mean 'the' Dominic Edwards?"

"Don't tell me you've never heard of him!" Trip exclaimed. At Malcolm's blank expression he continued, "He's the founder of Comnexco, one of the biggest commercial starship companies. They have two headquarters, one in Florida and one in New York City. Everybody knows who he is in Florida – you can't go a couple of blocks without seeing some kinda advertisement."

"Comnexco?" said Hoshi quietly, "I've heard of them before. My parents almost bought one of those ships, but decided against it when they saw the price tag!" She laughed and then said quite seriously, "Those ships are expensive. Olivia's family must be very wealthy. I wonder why she chose to do something like working on _Enterprise_."

"What makes you say that, Ensign." said T'Pol, looking calmly at Hoshi.

"Well." Hoshi said, looking somewhat embarrassed by all the stares she was receiving, "Dominic is a billionaire, more than likely. The company's been around for a long time and he's sold thousands of ships. I should think that there would be more than enough money so that Olivia wouldn't have to work if she didn't want to."

Fmuosa nodded. "There is certainly more than enough money so that a few generations of Edwards would not have to work, but Olivia takes pride in her work. Though she would never tell anyone, she always tried to do her best at everything in the hopes that one day her father would be proud of her. She had hoped that by joining the MACOs and successfully obtaining a position upon _Enterprise_ that she might garner the attention of her father…however, he still fails to notice anything but his own company."

Throughout all the conversation, Phlox had been very silent, watching the screen intently. Archer glanced over at Phlox and saw a strange expression on his face. Usually so jovial, this new look of disgust and helplessness on Phlox's face was something entirely new for Archer. "Phlox?" he asked questioningly.

Without tearing his eyes away from the screen, Phlox said, "She's very sick, isn't she?" Then he looked away from the viewscreen to Fmuosa who nodded his ethereal head.

"And you know what ails her." said Fmuosa. "Go ahead, voice your thought. It's quite clear from the expression on your face that you have a medical opinion."

Phlox glanced at Archer, who gave a nod of approval, before beginning. "Based on watching Olivia, even though it has only been for a few moments, I believe I could reliably say that she's developing a severe case of hypothermia. Left out all night in a cold city, at her age, and without sufficient clothing for the time of the year, it seems a reasonable diagnosis in my estimation."

Fmuosa nodded looking satisfied and said, "That's quite correct, Doctor Phlox." Everyone looked startled at his use of Phlox's name. Phlox opened his mouth in surprise, preparing to ask how he knew his name, but he was cut off. "You are wondering, Doctor Phlox." said Fmuosa, "how I know your name. The answer is quite simple. Olivia knows your name so I know your name. Generally speaking, we know a good deal of whatever Olivia knows. True, there are some things we don't know that she does, but eventually, we will know them all. Her mind will try to resist, but generally speaking, most minds are very poorly protected."

"You have ways of penetrating her mind?" asked Phlox, looking concerned.

Fmuosa looked at him with an expression of incredulity upon hearing Phlox's question. "But of course! How else would we learn what we needed to know? Most species we have so far encountered so far have minimal mental defenses to keep things private from those who might seek them, but such defenses are easily overcome. If only our subjects realized that they held the power, things might be different-" Fmuosa stopped abruptly, seeming to realize that he had said too much.

Archer looked critically at Fmuosa. "What do you mean the subjects hold the power?"

Fmuosa considered for a few moments whether he should answer the question, but then finally decided that there was no harm in answering it. "We are entering _their_ minds. And while we are powerful, in the end, it all comes down to the simple fact that the mind we are exploring is _not_ ours. Ultimately, the subject controls their own mind, even if most subjects are too simple-minded to realize that. But, that's a moot point for all of you anyway, since Olivia doesn't know that and you have no way of contacting her. Now." said Fmuosa, halting what looked like a hail of questions from the bridge crew, "pay attention!"

Everyone turned back to the viewscreen. A man could be seen running up to Olivia, who was lying, semiconscious, on the stairs of the karate studio. She looked deathly pale and they watched as the man grabbed Olivia's hand and began speaking to her. "Her father?" asked Travis quietly. Fmuosa shook his head, looking smug. "No, he is only the family butler. His name is Jackson Greenberg. He cares for Olivia dearly, as a father should. Despite the fact that taking such good care of her is not a part of his job, he does it regardless, because she is the daughter that he never had. Oh." he uttered suddenly, "how rude of me. I just realized you cannot hear the sound of the memory as I can. Hold on a minute." Fmuosa fiddled with something that no one could see, and then the sound could be heard on the bridge. Olivia's young and feeble voice crackled over the bridge comm systems. "Dad?" she asked plaintively. Jackson responded quietly, with tears in his eyes that the cold fogged Olivia didn't see, "No. It's me, Jackson. I was worried when you didn't call to let me know that you got home okay."

The memory that could be viewed on the screen suddenly zoomed out like a camera might so that the crew could see more of the city surrounding Olivia and Jackson. They now saw an ambulance, a police car, and two other cars come into view. Paramedics were hurrying a stretcher out and over to Olivia as a brown haired woman, dressed in a black sweater, a tight black leather skirt, and black pumps got out of one of the two cars. She slammed the door shut quickly and ran – high heels and all – over to Olivia and Jackson. Everyone could hear the panic in her voice as she said loudly and in an overly happy voice, "There you are! It's me, Mommy! Honey, can you hear me? Don't worry, Momma's here!"

Travis looked at Fmuosa and said disbelievingly, "That's her mother?"

"Of course." he replied. He narrowed his eyebrows and then said, "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, she just looks so…she looks like a runway model or something." Travis tried to explain.

Fmuosa nodded. "Well, that's appropriate. Mrs. Julie Edwards is the head of a very large fashion company that designs the newest runway styles."

Hoshi's eyes widened and she asked hurriedly, "What company?"

"Tybaeu." he stated calmly and Hoshi gave a little gasp. "Ensign?" asked Archer uncertainly.

"That's like _the_ company for the latest styles. She's a fashion genius!" Malcolm gave a snort while Trip and Travis smiled. They all seemed to be thinking the same thing – _Girls will be girls!_

"Regardless of Julie Edwards' fashion talents." T'Pol said in her careful monotone, "I think that we should all return our focus to the issue at hand." She gestured with a hand at the screen. By this point, the paramedics had Olivia on the stretcher, wrapped in blankets, and were yelling something about stage two hypothermia.

Julie Edwards was as close to her daughter as the paramedics and Jackson would allow her to be. She was hugging Jackson very tightly and crying, her black mascara running down her face. "Oh, Jackson!" she sobbed, looking both devastated and infuriated at the same time, "How could he do this to her! That bastard!"

As much as Jackson wanted to agree with her and tell them that they all deserved someone better than Dominic Edwards to watch over them, he said instead, "I'm sure that he has a good reason for not coming."

Julie gave a small snort of disbelief, but said nothing further. Instead she reached over to Olivia and stroked her cheek lovingly. "Mommy's here darling, and so is Jackson. Don't worry, we won't go anywhere." Olivia unconsciously snuggled toward her mother's touch as the paramedics finished their work. "Ma'am, we need to take her to the hospital. Would one of you like to ride in the ambulance with her?"

Both jumped at the chance. "I will." said Jackson loudly. When Julie began to protest, Jackson looked sternly at her and said, "You're in no condition to see her right now. She'd be frightened if she saw that you'd been crying on account of her. You know how much she hates being fussed over." Julie closed her open mouth and nodded silently.

Then as the stretcher was being loaded into the ambulance, a shrill shrieking was heard from one of the machines that Olivia was connected to. A paramedic glanced hurriedly at the monitor screen before yelling, "We've got tachycardia!"


	15. Freezing and Firefights

**Freezing and Firefights**

**Author's Notes: I don't own any of the characters except the ones I personally created for this story. I don't make any money off this. Also, the symptoms of hypothermia are real and are treated in hospitals today. Hypothermia is a real and potentially life threatening condition, so if you or anyone else contracts hypothermia, seek medical attention immediately. My apologies for not updating in months, but life and the real world has gotten…complicated. No excuse, I know, but it's the only one I can offer. Sorry! Many thanks to Ladyhawke Legend, my good friend and faithful beta reader.**

The paramedics practically ran with the stretcher into the ambulance, working over Olivia's deathly pale and motionless body. "Give me the cortical stimulator!" the head paramedic yelled, and his request was filled within moments.

A few terrifying seconds later, Olivia's heart was shocked back into a normal rhythm, and both Jackson and Julie felt like they could breathe again. "She's stable for now," the head paramedic said to the group at large, "but we need to get her to a hospital soon and begin the rewarming process. The more quicker the treatment for hypothermia begins, the more likely complete and normal recovery will be." Jackson and Julie nodded silently in unison.

The head paramedic continued, "Sir, you said you'd like to ride in the ambulance. If you still wish to do so, then get in, because we need to leave now! Ma'am please get in your car and follow us the best you can without endangering yourself. We're taking her to Anne Braden Hospital; you know where it is?"

"Yes!" Julie practically yelled as she ran back to her car, black pumps clicking noisily down the deserted street. Jackson hopped in the back of the ambulance, careful not to get in anyone's way. The ambulance took off, red lights flashing and siren blaring; Julie Edward's red Ferrari roared to life behind it.

Zigging and zagging dizzily through the nearly empty streets, the group made good time to the hospital. The Ferrari's tires squealed noisily around the corner and up into the parking garage, while the ambulance itself sped to a halt on the semi-circular driveway in front of the Emergency Room doors.

The back doors flew open and people seemed to materialize from nowhere around the van. Men in white coats, presumably doctors and nurses in colorful and patterned scrubs, trailed behind the paramedics wheeling the stretcher bearing an unconscious Olivia into the hospital. A few moments later, hair in disarray, Julie Edwards flew through the door after her daughter and Jackson.

………………………………………



The atmosphere on the bridge of the _Enterprise_ was tense. Despite the fact that the crew knew that Olivia did, in fact, survive her brush with death, didn't make the situation seem any less real. Archer could only imagine how the older "real" Olivia must feel having to relive the incident. Archer knew that if the same thing was happening to him, he'd feel very confused and quite disoriented. Hoshi was clutching her ear piece almost convulsively; the look on her face showing quite plainly that she wished her communicational skills could be of use here. She probed her brain for more information, previous experiences that could help her. She came up dry. It was like that moment right before the Universal Translator came on – that moment when she feared it wouldn't work and she wouldn't know what to do. When she was blissfully unaware of the challenges her latest language would hold, and her mind was blank. Such wasn't the case right now. While her mind was blank, she already knew the challenge ahead. And this time, the Universal Translator couldn't help.

T'Pol appeared impassive as usual, but it was obvious to everyone else on the bridge that she was observing the circumstance carefully and was attempting to put her logical mind toward solving the problem of getting Olivia out of the mess she was in. The whole thing was not logical, so how could she glean logic from a event that was clearly _not_ logical? She shook herself mentally. She needed to center and focus. She did this kind of thing all the time. Living with humans prepared her for bringing logic into an illogical place. If she could deal with stubborn captains and ridiculous engineers, then she could deal with this too.

Travis meanwhile, wished that they could simply fly back in time to New York City to be there for her. He didn't know what else to do; everything was so wrong. They were thousands of miles from Earth and many years removed from the time they were seeing, so even if he could fly back to Earth that moment, how could he help? Having grown up as a Boomer, Travis had seem all kinds of things in space that were strange, but not beyond his comprehension. This however, was a whole other can of worms. People that were ghosts and yet weren't, a captain and a crew member who had died and come back to life, life forms who craved the emotions of others? None of it made sense. And yet, Travis knew that if it didn't make sense to him, then it must make even less sense to Olivia, since she had no idea about what was going on "outside" of her own mind.

Reed was carefully observing their ethereal host, Fmuosa, to see what, if any, weapons, might be successful in subduing him. If only they could get the alien into the brig, where the environment was properly controlled could they question him effectively. For the time being however, since he was weaponless and unsure of what to do, Reed simply settled for staring pointedly at the Captain. He was hoping that the Captain would feel someone looking at him and look his way. Perhaps then, they could silently decide what to do about the situation at hand. Reed sighed; he certainly was _not_ looking forward to writing up the next incident report about all of this. It would be even more confusing than the last one he had to write detailing Olivia and Archer's deaths – if that was possible. He sighed inwardly. It was days like these that 

made him think that perhaps joining the Royal Navy as his father had wanted wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

Trip was standing behind Jon in stunned silence. He was fairly friendly with Olivia; in fact, they frequently shared pecan pie with her in the mess hall. Both of them tended to be night owls, so when one couldn't sleep, they could usually be found either sitting in the mess hall or in the gym. Olivia had always seemed so upbeat and happy in their conversations, that Trip found it hard to believe that she could have lived such an apparently depressing and deprived life. _Well, at least she's got that Jackson guy. He seems like a good person,_ he thought distractedly. How would they get her out of this one? Being an engineer, Trip immediately set to work at the situation from a mechanical point of view. He had seen that machine that she was strapped into, although she didn't even know she was in a machine. If it was mechanical, he could fix it. In this case though, perhaps he would have to break it…

Phlox felt his blood racing. While everyone else on the bridge had certainly gotten the idea that Olivia wasn't well, and perhaps some of them even knew something about hypothermia and tachycardia, none of them, save himself, could properly understand just how serious Olivia's condition could be if left untreated. Time was important right now, and it was certainly something that the people at Anne Braden Hospital did not have on their side; too great a delay could result in brain damage. Mind whirling over the situation, Phlox sat down on the floor, realizing belatedly, that they would indeed be there for a while. He made a mental checklist of medical supplies he would need whenever Olivia was returned to them. Mental trauma was almost certain. Who could be thrown suddenly into their abusive past without being at least disturbed by it, if not mentally scarred for life? She would most likely be woozy and dehydrated after her time in the chair. Her sense of self and equilibrium would be upset for a few days. Perhaps some sedatives and a friendly ear to talk to would serve best in this case.

Archer sat rigid in his chair uncertain as to what to do until he felt a prickling on the back of his neck. He looked over and sure enough, Reed was staring at him so pointedly, it was a wonder that his stare hadn't burned a hole into Archer's head. He questioned Reed with his eyes. Reed glanced meaningfully over at Fmuosa who was still watching the unfolding scene with interest, and then using his thumb and pointer finger made a shooting gesture.

Archer's understanding was instantaneous; they needed to take Fmuosa out so that they could properly get a grasp on the situation and what they could do about it. There was a strong box on the bridge, but how to get to it without alerting Fmuosa? Archer stood up, redirecting Fmuosa's attention from the screen to himself. He strode toward the screen with purpose, hoping that he looked like he was hopping mad instead of genuinely scared.

He strode to the side of the viewscreen opposite to where the strong box was kept and where Reed sat. Hopefully, this action would give his armory officer a chance to get a weapon. Now, Archer had to come up with a distraction, and fast. He began speaking loudly and with 

what he hoped was considerable anger. "How dare you do such a thing!? This is an outrage, a scandal! Why, this is an abomination! Torturing young girls for the sake of your own amusement!"

The whole bridge looked toward the Captain, realizing what was going on, giving Malcolm the chance he needed. "Torturing young girls for our own amusement?" Fmuosa asked indignantly, advancing upon the Captain, both angry and eager to experience someone else's raw emotions so up close and personal.

Malcolm crept cat-like to a small compartment behind him near the floor. Carefully jimmying the door open, he reached in and grabbed out a phaser. Leaving the compartment only the slightest bit ajar, so that he could return for another weapon in a last minute attempt if the first failed, Malcolm returned to his seat. Waiting for just the right moment to strike, Reed watched as Fmuosa advanced on Captain Archer, clearly upset, his milky white, translucent arms thrown up in frustration. That was it; no one was going to threaten his captain like that. Reed, though not particularly religious, sent up a quick prayer, and then aimed, phaser on stun, at the translucent back of the form before him, and fired.

TBC

**So, whatcha think? There's more to come! Just do me a favor and push that little button and REVIEW! Questions, comments, flames, and anger about the length of time between updates are all welcome! ******


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